*NEW Picks for Halloween 2019!!*

Well, friends- October ramps up my most favorite time of year when it comes to children’s books…Holiday Picture Books! I’m so excited to continue my fun “Monthly Book Picks” tradition again this year by adding a few new finds each month. Call me a sucker, but I found more than a few to add to the Halloween list this year! I hope you find something you and your family will love! Happy Reading, friends…and be sure to keep scrolling down to the bottom for picks from years past!

The Night Box | Maurice the Unbeastly |I Will Not Eat You |Mary McScary |The Nightmare Before Christmas | It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown |Stone Soup |Snowmen at Halloween |Poppleton in Fall don’t forget about those early readers who may want something they can try reading themselves|Mercy Watson Princess in Disguise more of a beginner chapter book for you little ones wanting more!|The Roll Away Pumpkin| Pick a Pumpkin  linking on B&N since it already sold out on Amazon. A brand new book to add to it’s sister book “Pick a Pine Tree”, one of my Christmas favs!|Triangle |Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree one of my FAVORITES from childhood!| Spooky Pookie all of my babes have loved Sandra Boynton books!| The Curious Case of the Missing Mammouth this book is BEAUTIFUL!| Harry Potter: Exploring Hogwarts, an Illustrated Guide for your HP fans!| Ice Cream Every Time I See a Ghost: and illustrated joke book My girls will love this one! |Crankenstein

 

1. The Way Home in the Night |2. Plume |3. The Midnight Library |4. The Soup Bone | 5.Alpha Oops: H is for Halloween |6. No Kiss for Mother (not exactly “halloween” but that angry little kitty just screamed, “Put me on your Halloween shelf!”|7. Rufus, the Bat Who Loved Colors |8. Tomi Ungerer Treasury (A new discovery for me! Tomi is a little bit off-the-beaten-path, with just a hint of darkness. Perfect for this time of year!)|9. They all Saw a Cat |10. Little Boo |11. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: The Illustrated Version (Book One is a great starting point to introduce your kiddos to the world of Harry Potter before it gets too dark in later books!)|12. Hocus Pocus & The All New Sequel (novel- for older readers) |13. Leonard the Terrible Monster |14. Beware of the Storybook Wolves |15. Eearie Dearies (Disclaimer: The book has a beautiful cover and is categorized as an ABC book of  “26 ways to be absent from school”, so I bought it. BUT, it is very dark. The vocabulary is advanced and the illustrations, while beautiful, are pretty Gothic. I recommend this book for pretty “shelfie” purposes or for much older spooky-book-lovers) |16.  The Worst Witch (My girls are obsessed with this show on Netflix so I can’t wait to read them this novel! |17.  Which Way to Witch School? (Thanks to the follower who suggested this one! Super cute!) |18. Stellaluna |19. Bonesville |20.  Stumpkin (another blog reader suggestion- thank YOU for sharing with me!)

*All-Time Favorites from Years Past*

Picture Books:

1.Spookly the Square Pumpkin-Another from my teaching days…BEFORE it was a movie! This book is so good for teaching tolerance and differences! It’s a MUST!

2. Vampirina Ballerina-I know you’ve seen this book all over the blogs, BUT did you know it is a series…AND a new cartoon on Disney!?

3. The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything-This is a staple in our house- a fun “spooky” book of repetition. My girls LOVE this and have it memorized! A Halloween staple!

3. The Bad Seed-Maybe it’s because I used to be in love with this movie, but when I saw this title, I knew I HAD to have it! “RHO-DA! You kill that little boy with your tap shoes?!!” Anyone, anyone?? Don’t worry, this book is just a play on words and not dark like the film or scary at all! Tells the story of a little seed who had a rough start and turned “baaaad”…but is he really that bad after all? People (and seeds) can change, you know! 😉

4. No Such Thing-Super cute story…and it’s also a “look and find” book which my girls LOVE!

5. How to Make Friends with a Ghost-Gorgeous illustrations! This book does read more like a “how to manual” than a story though. Some of the annotations and jokes might go right over smaller children’s heads. And, just a heads up, this book follows the little girl in her quest to befriend this ghost as she grow into adulthood. At the end, she does pass away (as an old woman) and the last illustration shows her becoming a ghost and floating away with her ghost friend. Just a heads up in case you’d rather not broach that topic with your children. I certainly had no idea.

6. Leo: A Ghost StoryOne of our very favs!

7. Cat’s Night Out-Super sweet rhyming book! Plus the cover made me think of the cell block tango from Chicago! 😉

8. The Scariest Book Ever-Super cute interactive book. Ardyn thought it was super funny!

9. & 10. Shadow and Flashlight-Two gorgeous “picture books”…all you need is your imagination. Ardyn loves these because the pictures tell the stories all by themselves.

11. Creepy Pair of Underwear-Little bit of a longer read, but funny for kids a tiny bit older and for those “potty humor” loving kiddos! 😉

12. Bonaparte Falls Apart…and needs his friends to help put him back together! Super cute friendship story!

13. Room on the Broom-We read it last night for our bedtime book and I forgot how fun it was. Definitely a holiday favorite!

14. The Night World-Gorgeously illustrated story about how the world looks in the darkest, very earliest hours of the morning…

15. Humbug Witch-This book is a new find for us and we are all obsessed. Such a fun read…with a little surprise ending!

16. Go Away Big Green Monster-A Classic for Halloween, and ANYTIME. This is such a fun book to read aloud..especially with those kiddos who may have monster fears. bonus points for there being an interactive puppet! I linked it HERE.

And a few other sweet picture books with gorgeous illustrations that will certainly liven up your Halloween “book shelfie” game! 😉

17. Gilbert the Ghost|18. Ghosts |19. Little Owl Lost |20. Ghosts in the House

Baby/Board Books:

21. B is for BooThis entire alphabet series is my favorite ever. Max has the “retro” one in his room and I just ordered the Christmas one as well!

22-24. Dracula, Edgar, Frankenstein Hello, BabyLit books…need I say more? These books introduce even the youngest of babies to the classics with simple word/illustration associations!

25. Five Little GhostsCutest little rhyming book…and there other books for other seasons!

26.If You’re Spooky and You Know ItI think you know how this one goes….super fun to sing along with little ones!

27. Five Little PumpkinsOur FAV Halloween song!!! My girls LOVE to sing this…and we even act it out! So super cute. Used to do this one with my class!

28. EEK! Halloween!Ardyn is 100% OBsessed with the Sandra Boynton books! Like, she sleeps with them. This one is short, sweet, and funny…just like the rest.

Happy Reading!