The most recommended Halloween books

This brilliantly constructed book features cut-out pages that, when turned, gradually build the scary parts of a monster into its full glory. But then, at midway, the narration reads, “… YOU DON’T SCARE ME! So GO AWAY,” giving the child the agency to turn the pages to make the monster gradually do just that. In my experience, younger kids are delightfully a little terrified at first and then master that fear as they turn the pages to make the monster recede, using lines like “GO AWAY big red mouth!” When reading this one online, I find that it works best to read the words and then zoom each image up close to the camera. This one always gets a lot of squeals and laughs! 

We found this book as part of the Yoto Audio book collection. It tells the story of skeletons who have a skeleton dog and go out to try to scare people at night, but things usually happen, and no one actually gets scared. 

My kid laughs when the animal bones show up. There is a dog skeleton who gets lost in the snow, which my six-year-old finds the epitome of humor.

I love reading aloud, and I love read-aloud books that have sounds or actions that the reader and listeners can do as they follow the story. This book is delightfully physical—as you clap, clomp, wiggle, nod, and boo along with the shoes, pants, shirt, top hat, gloves, and pumpkin head that the little old woman meets as she walks home one night. Being followed by clomping shoes or wiggling pant legs might be terrifying, but this little old woman is not afraid of anything, something she proves when all these animate items come knocking at her door. Bravely she offers them a task where they can really be frightening—and the clomping shoes, wiggling pants, shaking shirt, clapping gloves, nodding hat, and boo-crying pumpkin head become the perfect scarecrow in the little old woman’s cornfield. Such a fun book!

How to Catch a Monster is just one of the books in the How to Catch series.

It is a quick read for a bedtime story and very interactive and fun for little ones. The rhyming is catchy and the illustrations by Andy Elkerton are beautiful and colorful. All of the How to Catch books have personality and this one doesn’t disappoint.

The kids love the plotting and planning in order to catch the monster and as a parent, I enjoy watching the gears turn when I ask how they would catch a monster. It is a house favorite and gets the kids in the Halloween spirit.

This is a unique cultural exploration of how Halloween is celebrated as the ‘Day of the Dead.’ Until the movie Coco came out by Disney, I had no idea of the practices associated with ancestral remembrance. The story engenders curiosity in young readers through the protagonist who goes on a journey to follow a young girl as she explains this celebration through her culture’s lens. A fun read for children aged 3-5. Empowers children to explore cultural diversity with curiosity and without fear.

I am from Baltimore, where famous spooky writer Edgar Allan Poe lived and died right outside a bar I used to go to in my twenties (a few centuries before I ever went there!). Our football team is even named after his famous poem, "The Raven," and its mascots are named Edgar, Allan, and Poe. So of course I love this adorable book about a tiny raven who just won’t go to bed! Stucki’s illustrations make a kind of scary animal—a raven—very appealing to little kids. And everyone can relate to a kid not wanting to go to bed! There is a whole series of books by this duo covering different Poe stories, if you want a very literary Halloween.

I am a big fan of classic horror movies from places like Universal Studios and Hammer Films.

This book made me feel like I’d been immersed in the ultimate film from that era that I had never seen. The protagonists, twin sisters running a museum of curiosities in London for their eccentric father, were delightful.

The villain was the property owner, who felt authentic in her greed and desires. Then toss in an assortment of monsters ranging from tragic to truly frightening trying to achieve their goals and you have a wonderful book that will give you that special Halloween feeling, no matter what time of year you read it.

If you’ve read any book by Valente, you will know the worlds she creates are a trip. As a reader, you have no choice but to trust her and she doesn’t let you down. This series is ostensibly for middle graders but I dare say that you will enjoy it no matter your age—as long as you allow your imagination free rein (or is it reign? Either way). The story features a young girl who goes to Fairyland and has many adventures while learning important life lessons. It is loads of fun.

While the imagery and color palette seem simplified in Eric Rohmann’s Bone Dog, the mastery of his black line carries the art for me in this touching tale about a boy and his dog.

Rohmann uses a woodcut technique to create his black outlining. To actually carve around a drawn image, leaving the drawing raised up to ink and print on paper takes a tremendous amount of time for a 32-page picture book. The results are well worth it, these pages are stunning.

What I really love is the little bits of black around many of the carved areas having picked up some of the ink and left on the print, giving an added sense of movement, similar to cartoon motion lines. The dancing skeletons and running dogs really come to life!

The background washes of rich blue watercolor enhance the Halloween night mood, resulting in a beautiful mix of… show more.

Don’t Push the Button! A Halloween Treat, written and illustrated by Bill Carter is an entertaining and engaging read.

I always love when a monster is scared of the potential of other monsters. This one reminds me a bit of my favorite kids book of all time, The Monster at the End of This Book, but with more reader/listener participation. The format that worked so well with the original Don’t Push the Button book works just as well here.