What makes a good Halloween book? You want scary, but not too scary, colorful fall pictures and a good story. Here are a few for Halloween, a few for early childhood and just a couple more. What was your favorite Halloween story? One memorable one from a few years ago is The Monsterator by Keith Graves. Check it out.
Little Boo by
Stephen Wunderli, Illustrated by Tim Zeltner
A story of a seed that turns into a seedling, then a plant
with a flower and finally a pumpkin that itself turns into. All through each
stage, the seed/plant/pumpkin wants to scare others by crying “Boo!” And he
finally gets to be scary as a jack-o-lantern. Great story to share in the fall,
especially for Halloween. While the story is well told and you can anticipate
the connection to Halloween, there is plenty of real learning to be done here
on the growth and development of a plant.
Peep and Egg: I’m not
Trick-or-Treating by Laura Gehl, pictures by Joyce Wan
Peep is dressed and ready to go trick or treating but Egg is
scared to go. While Peep tries to be encouraging there is nothing that will
convince little Egg that they should go. Until, finally they do and then both
are glad they went. Several nice Halloween jokes for those who are into silly
words!
Nobody Likes a Goblin
by Ben Hatke
Nobody draws strange creatures better than Ben Hatke. Little
goblin lives in a deserted castle with his friend Skeleton. Until one day when
a band of adventurers storms the castle and takes away everything including his
one and only friend. As Goblin goes in search of Skeleton, he discovers that
nobody likes him. Medieval people and mythical creatures, caves and castles and
amazing drawings, what more could you ask of a story about friendship?
Cricket in the
Thicket: Poems About Bugs by Carol Murray, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Poems about a variety of insects are accompanied by collages
showing the insects in various activities and short factual information about
the insects. For example, on the page with Go, Ants, Go! Is this poem: Working,
while the world is sleeping, / tugging, lugging, running, creeping, /three
small letters, that is all. / A-N-T, together, crawl! And the picture made from
cut out newspaper, ink-blots and some drawings show the ants crawling all over
many objects while the world is asleep. Great for sharing a poem or two each
day during down times in the classroom. This might also be a good text to use
for choral reading, poetry times.While the cover looks more like spring than fall, this is a great book to use around Halloween. What would Halloween be without a few bugs!
Books for Kindergarten and Pre-School
This Bear’s Birthday
by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, Illustrated by Lorna Hussey
Do you have a little bear at your house who wants to do
everything himself/herself? This might be the book for you. As Bear finds out,
some things he can do all by himself, some things he can do with the help of
his mom or dad and some things, no bear can do, like putting the leaves back on
the tree. A great read for that five or six year old who wants so much to do
things on his own.
Little Plane Learns to
Write by Stephen Savage
Another great book for those early years in elementary
school. Sometimes learning new things is hard, but if you keep trying, it
finally comes together. Written in a way that encourages children to look at
the letters and read on their own.
Bunny Bus by
Ammi-Joan Paquette, pictures by Lesley Breen Withrow
A fine story for Easter time about a Bunny Bus that gets
overloaded. Told in short, easy to read rhymes, there is not much point to this
book, but it is colorful and fun.
Blue Ethel by
Jennifer Black Reinhardt
An old black and white cat named Ethel. Not too interesting
until she rolls around on the sidewalk that has been decorated and comes back
home blue. Her neighbor cat also becomes colorful and thus begins a new chapter
in their lives. While the story is fanciful and a bit weird, Reinhardt writes
in a way that will expand young one’s vocabulary including exploring the
multiple meanings of blue. Have fun with Ethel as she goes from white to blue,
azure, cerulean, cobalt!
What Are You Waiting
For? By Scott Menchin, pictures by Matt Phelan
A raccoon spies a bunny waiting for something. A series of
questions follow as the raccoon tries to determine what the bunny is waiting
for. Hints are given in a riddle like fashion. And while the raccoon does not
try to guess what the bunny is waiting for, children may want to guess. In the
end, the bunny and the raccoon both see what the bunny was waiting for and then
they go home to their beds. Any ideas?
