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    The Children's Book Review

    Kids’ Halloween Books: Cats, Bats, & Skeletons

    Bianca SchulzeBy Bianca Schulze11 Mins Read Ages 0-3 Ages 4-8 Ages 9-12 Board Books Book Lists Chapter Books Early Readers Fantasy: Supernatural Fiction Halloween Books Picture Books Seasonal: Holiday Books Teens: Young Adults
    Spooky Boo Book
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    By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
    Published: September 21, 2011

    It’s time to start prepping for the holiday season. First stop: Halloween. No tricks here—only treats!

    When witches go riding,
    and black cats are seen,
    the moon laughs and whispers,
    ‘tis near Halloween.
    ~Author Unknown

    Our 2011 Halloween book list spotlights everything from growing pumpkins; overcoming fears (a great topic for youngsters that tend to get a little surprised when they no longer recognize their family and friends due to colorful costumes and scary masks); witches; skeletons; cats and bats; and plain-old, creepy stories that beg to be read on a dark night with a flashlight. From babies to beginning readers to middle graders to young adults, TCBR has you covered.

    Board Books

    Book: Spooky BooSpooky Boo! A Halloween Adventure

    by Lily Karr (Author), Kyle Poling (Illustrator)

    Reading level: Baby-Preschool

    Board book: 12 pages

    Publisher: Cartwheel Books; Brdbk edition (July 1, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: What’s Halloween without a haunted house? Come inside SPOOKY BOO! A HALLOWEEN ADVENTURE – it’s filled with tons of Halloween fun! With spooky lift-the-flaps, icky touch-and-feels, and outrageous mirrors throughout, this is one haunted house that trick-or-treaters will want to visit again and again!

    Add this book to your collection: Spooky Boo! A Halloween Adventure

    ____________________________________________________________

    Picture Book: Little Black CatLittle Black Book

    by Renee Khatami

    Reading level: Baby-Preschool

    Board book: 14 pages

    Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (July 26, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: Black is the new black in this darkly tantalizing touch-and-feel extravaganza for the senses! Now babies can enjoy this daring color in a novelty board book chock-full of gorgeous, full-color photographs. There are textures to touch, a flap surprise, and the scratch ‘n’ sniff scent of sweet licorice that you can almost taste!

    Add this book to your collection: Little Black Book

    ____________________________________________________________

    Book: Happy Halloween Stinky FaceHappy Halloween, Stinky Face

    by Lisa Mccourt (Author), Cyd Moore (Illustrator)

    Reading level: Baby-Preschool

    Boardbook: 32 pages

    Publisher: Cartwheel Books (July 1, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: It’s almost time to go trick-or-treating, but first Stinky Face has just a few questions for Mama. As always, Mama lovingly addresses each and every one of her child’s concerns. A sweet and reassuring Halloween tale from Lisa McCourt and Cyd Moore!

    Add this book to your collection: Happy Halloween, Stinky Face

    ____________________________________________________________

    Picture Books

    Halloween Books for KidsLittle Goblins Ten

    by Pamela Jane (Author), Jane Manning (Illustrator)

    Reading level: Ages 3-7

    Hardcover: 32 pages

    Publisher: HarperCollins (July 26, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: From monsters to ghosties to goblins, everyone’s favorite beasties haunt and howl and rattle their way through their forest home in this silly, spooky twist on the beloved nursery rhyme “Over in the Meadow.”

    Author Pamela Jane and New York Times bestselling illustrator Jane Manning have created a delicious Halloween treat for readers to enjoy.

    Add this book to your collection: Little Goblins Ten

    ____________________________________________________________

    Halloween Books for KidsSkeleton Meets the Mummy

    by Steve Metzger (Author), Aaron Zenz (Illustrator)

    Reading level: Ages 4-8

    Paperback: 32 pages

    Publisher: Cartwheel Books; Original edition (August 1, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: This spooky new read-aloud story is perfect for Halloween!

    On Halloween night, Sammy has to make a quick trip through the dark woods before he can go trick-or-treating. But someone–or something–is following him. Scritch! Scratch! What could it be?

    Bold, vibrant illustations make this spooky story a perfect Halloween tale that kids will want to read again and again.

    Add this book to your collection: Skeleton Meets the Mummy‘

    ____________________________________________________________

    Halloween Books for KidsPumpkin Cat

    by Anne Mortimer

    Reading level: Ages 4-8

    Hardcover: 24 pages

    Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (July 26, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: Through the seasons, Cat and Mouse work together in the garden.

    Together, they watch seeds that turn into plants in the spring,

    and plants that turn into flowers in the summer,

    and flowers that turn into pumpkins in the fall!

    And when their pumpkins are finally ready, Mouse gives the best surprise of all to his friend, Cat!

    Anne Mortimer’s charming story about friendship and discovery is perfect for any season.

    Add this book to your collection: Pumpkin Cat

    ____________________________________________________________

    Halloween Books for KidsPumpkin Trouble

    by Jan Thomas

    Reading level: Ages 2-5

    Hardcover: 40 pages

    Publisher: HarperCollins (July 26, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: Did that pumpkin just quack?

    Add this book to your collection: Pumpkin Trouble

    ____________________________________________________________

    Halloween Books for KidsHappy Birthday, Little Witch!

    by Lieve Baeten

    Reading level: Ages 3-8

    Hardcover: 32 pages

    Publisher: NorthSouth (August 1, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: It’s Lizzy the Little Witch’s birthday, but Cat has gone missing. She’s not at the Witch Village Market, and she’s not in the Witch This-‘n’-That Shop, and she’s not in the Witch Pet Store. Can Lizzy find her in time for birthday cake?
    You can search for Cat with Lizzy. Just carefully punch open the doors to the Village Market, the Witch This-‘n’-That Shop, the Witch Pet Store, and finally Lizzy’s own house and take a peek inside.

    Add this book to your collection: Happy Birthday, Little Witch!

    ____________________________________________________________

    Halloween Books for KidsWitches

    by Cheryl Christian (Author), Wish Williams (Illustrator)

    Reading level: Ages 2-5

    Paperback: 24 pages

    Publisher: Star Bright Books (August 15, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: Little witches abound in this rollicking, rhyming adventure that features all of the fun, fantasy, and treats–but none of the tricks– of a Halloween night to remember! Whimsical, colorful illustrations overflow with charming details that will engage young readers to read the book again and again to discover all its charms!

    Add this book to your collection: Witches

    ____________________________________________________________

    Halloween Books for KidsThe I’M NOT SCARED Book

    by Todd Parr

    Reading level: Ages 3-6

    Hardcover: 32 pages

    Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (August 3, 2011)

    Source: Bookstore

    Publisher’s synopsis: With his signature blend of playfulness and sensitivity, Todd Parr explores the subject of all things scary and assures readers that all of us are afraid sometimes.

    Add this book to your collection: The I’M NOT SCARED Book

    ____________________________________________________________

    Early Readers

    Halloween Books for KidsInside a House That is Haunted: Scholastic Reader Level 2

    by Alyssa Satin Capucilli (Author), Tedd Arnold (Illustrator)

    Reading level: Ages 4-7

    Paperback: 32 pages

    Publisher: Cartwheel Books; Reprint edition (July 1, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: Bestselling author, Alyssa Satin Capucilli, and two-time Geisel Honor winner, Tedd Arnold, team up for this hilarious halloween tale that is just as much trick as it is a treat. Previously published as a paperback, this classic is now available as a Scholastic Reader. With illustrations that make the scariest creature look extremely funny and romping repetitive text, readers will never expect what happens when this haunted house has a trick-or-treater knock on its door. Ghosts, spiders, owls, skeletons and monsters take turns accidentally scaring each other in this silly, slapstick story.

    Add this book to your collection: Inside a House That is Haunted

    ____________________________________________________________

    Halloween Books for KidsNever Kick a Ghost and Other Silly Chillers: I Can Read, Level 2

    by Judy Sierra (Author), Pascale Constantin (Illustrator)

    Reading level: Ages 4-8

    Paperback: 32 pages

    Publisher: HarperCollins (July 26, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: Yikes! This collection of easy-to-read, silly, spooky tales features a pirate bride, a ghost that grows and grows, and a big slobbery monster.

    Add this book to your collection: Never Kick a Ghost and Other Silly Chillers

    ____________________________________________________________

    A Haunted Halloween and Scooby-DooScooby-Doo Comic Storybook #1: A Haunted Halloween

    Alcadia Snc (Illustrator)

    Reading level: Ages 4-8

    Paperback: 32 pages

    Publisher: Scholastic Inc.; Original edition (July 1, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: Zoinks! Someone in Banning Junction is burning creepy patterns in the cornfields. Seems like a ghost is out to ruin the annual Halloween party! Can Scooby and the gang solve the case and save the celebration?

    Add this book to your collection: Scooby-Doo Comic Storybook #1: A Haunted Halloween

    ____________________________________________________________

    Chapter Books

    Halloween Books for Kids: Horrid HenryHorrid Henry Wakes the Dead

    by Francesca Simon (Author), Tony Ross (Illustrator)

    Reading level: Ages 7-10

    Paperback: 112 pages

    Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky; Reprint edition (August 1, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: Henry will do anything to win the grand prize at this year’s talent show…even wake the dead! Plus three other stories that will leave you screaming for more.

    Add this book to your collection: Horrid Henry Wakes the Dead

    ____________________________________________________________

    Scary School BookScary School

    by Derek The Ghost

    Reading level: Ages 9-12

    Hardcover: 256 pages

    Publisher: HarperCollins (June 21, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: Join Charles “New Kid” Nukid as he makes some very Scary friends—including Petunia, Johnny, and Peter the Wolf—and figures out that Scary School can be just as funny as it is spooky!

    Add this book to your collection: Scary School

    ____________________________________________________________

    Book by N. D. WilsonThe Dragon’s Tooth: Ashtown Burials #1

    by N. D. Wilson

    Reading level: Ages 8-12

    Hardcover: 496 pages

    Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (August 23, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: For two years, Cyrus and Antigone Smith have run a sagging roadside motel with their older brother, Daniel. Nothing ever seems to happen. Then a strange old man with bone tattoos arrives, demanding a specific room.

    Less than 24 hours later, the old man is dead. The motel has burned, and Daniel is missing. And Cyrus and Antigone are kneeling in a crowded hall, swearing an oath to an order of explorers who have long served as caretakers of the world’s secrets, keepers of powerful relics from lost civilizations, and jailers to unkillable criminals who have terrorized the world for millennia.

    N. D. Wilson, author of Leepike Ridge and 100 Cupboards, returns with an imagination-capturing adventure that inventively combines the contemporary and the legendary.

    Add this book to your collection: The Dragon’s Tooth: Ashtown Burials #1

    ____________________________________________________________

    Halloween Books for Kids3:15 Season One: Things That Go Bump in the Night

    by Patrick Carman

    Reading level: Ages 9-12

    Hardcover: 176 pages

    Publisher: Scholastic Inc. (September 1, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: Read, watch, and listen to each chilling story in 15 minutes or less! 3:15 means several things. It’s a time when things go bump in the night. A place where spooky stories find a home. A feeling . . . that chill running down your spine.

    Add this book to your collection: 3:15 Season One: Things That Go Bump in the Night

    ____________________________________________________________

    Halloween Books for KidsA Scary Scene in a Scary Movie

    by Matt Blackstone

    Reading level: Young Adult

    Hardcover: 256 pages

    Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (July 5, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: Rene, an obsessive-compulsive fourteen year old, smells his hands and wears a Batman cape when he’s nervous. If he picks up a face-down coin, moves a muscle when the time adds up to thirteen (7:42 is bad luck because 7 + 4 + 2 = 13), or washes his body parts in the wrong order, Rene or someone close to him will break a bone, contract a deadly virus, and/or die a slow and painful death like someone in a scary scene in scary movie. Rene’s new and only friend tutors him in the art of playing it cool, but that’s not as easy as Gio makes it sound.

    Add this book to your collection: A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie

    ____________________________________________________________

    Halloween Books for KidsSkary Childrin and the Carousel of Sorrow

    by Katy Towell

    Reading level: Ages 8-12

    Hardcover: 272 pages

    Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (August 23, 2011)

    Source: Publisher

    Publisher’s synopsis: Twelve years ago, for 12 days straight, the town of Widowsbury suffered a terrible storm, which tore open a gate through which escaped all sorts of foul, rotten things. Strange things and strange people were no longer welcomed in Widowsbury, for one could never be sure of what secrets waited under the surface . . .

    Adelaide Foss, Maggie Borland, and Beatrice Alfred are known by their classmates at Widowsbury’s Madame Gertrude’s School for Girls as “scary children.” Unfairly targeted because of their peculiarities—Adelaide has an uncanny resemblance to a werewolf, Maggie is abnormally strong, and Beatrice claims to be able to see ghosts—the girls spend a good deal of time isolated in the school’s inhospitable library facing detention. But when a number of people mysteriously begin to disappear in Widowsbury, the girls work together, along with Steffen Weller, son of the cook at Rudyard School for Boys, to find out who is behind the abductions. Will they be able to save Widowsbury from a 12-year-old curse?

    Add this book to your collection: Skary Childrin and the Carousel of Sorrow

    ____________________________________________________________

    Want to see our picks from last year? Best Halloween Books for Kids: Scary, Spooky, and Silly

    What to Read Next:

    1. Halloween Books for Kids Ages 7-10
    2. Valentine’s Day Gifts: Kids’ and Young Adult Books
    3. Summer Reading List: Best Beach Reads
    4. Kids’ Halloween Books: All-Time Family Favorites

    *Disclosure: Please note that this post may contain affiliate links that share some commission. Rest assured that these will not affect the cost of any products and services promoted here. Our team always provides their authentic opinion in all content published on this site.

    Aaron Zenz Alcadia Snc Alyssa Satin Capucilli Anne Mortimer Boards Books Book List Cartwheel Books Cheryl Christian Cyd Moore Derek The Ghost Francesca Simon Halloween Halloween Adventure Halloween Books Jan Thomas Jane Manning Judy Sierra Katy Towell Kid Halloween Book Kyle Poling Lieve Baeten Lily Karr Lisa McCourt Matt Blackstone N. D. Wilson Pamela Jane Pascale Constantin Patrick Carman Pumpkin Renee Khatami Steve Metzger Tedd Arnold Todd Parr Tony Ross Trick-or-treating Wish Williams
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    Bianca Schulze
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    Bianca Schulze is the founder of The Children’s Book Review. She is a reader, reviewer, mother and children’s book lover. She also has a decade’s worth of experience working with children in the great outdoors. Combined with her love of books and experience as a children’s specialist bookseller, the goal is to share her passion for children’s literature to grow readers. Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, she now lives with her husband and three children near Boulder, Colorado.

    1 Comment

    1. Julia on October 3, 2011 4:52 pm

      Very interesting!

      Reply
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