Halloween Picture Books for Preschoolers

What better books to share with children than stories about Jack-o-lanterns, trick-or-treating, skeletons, and haunted houses, when Halloween is drawing near? Most of the following titles, collected from a posting compiled by Stacey Schultz (Oct 21, 2005) at the PUBYAC (http://www.pubyac.org/) listserv, are non-scary picture books that librarians have reported to be successful with preschoolers. Titles with an asterisk may be scary stories.

At the end of this post is a search method to locate many more juvenile titles about Halloween in our library.

Bollinger, Peter.
Algernon Graeves Is Scary Enough. 2005.
Algernon Graeves wants to wear the darkest, scariest Halloween costume ever to go trick-or-treating and finally thinks of just the right thing.
Location: Center for Children’s Books
Call Number: Q. SE. B638a

Brown, Ruth.
*A Dark, Dark Tale: Story and Pictures. 1981.
Journeying through a dark, dark house, a black cat surprises the only inhabitant of the abandoned residence.
Location: Education Remote Storage
Call Number: SE. B8144D

Cazet, Denys.
The Perfect Pumpkin Pie. 2005.
Mr. Wilkerson, lover of pie, returns as a ghost on Halloween to demand some good pie from Jack and his grandmother.
Location: Center for Children’s Books
Call Number: Q. SE. C319p

DeFelice, Cynthia C.
The Dancing Skeleton. 1989.
An ornery dead man refuses to stay in his coffin and causes a disturbance when the best fiddler in town comes to call on his widow.
Location: Education Remote Storage
Call Number: SE. D361D

Desimini, Lisa.
Trick-or-Treat, Smell My Feet! 2005.
When twin witches Delia and Ophelia cook up a mischievous spell for Halloween, a mysterious ingredient causes the potion to backfire.
Location: Education S Collection
Call Number: Q. SE. D461t

Emberley, Ed.
*Go Away, Big Green Monster! 1992.
Die-cut pages through which bits of a monster are revealed are designed to help a child control nighttime fears of monsters.
Location: Education S Collection
Call Number: Q.SE. EM13G

Galdone, Paul.
The Teeny-Tiny Woman; A Ghost Story. 1984.
Retells the tale of the teeny-tiny woman who finds a teeny-tiny bone in a churchyard and puts it away in her cupboard before she goes to sleep.
Location: Education Storage
Call Number: SE. G131TE

Graves, Keith.
Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance. 1999.
Frank the monster indulges his love of dancing by strutting his stuff on stage until his head unzips, his brains flop out, and he continues to lose body parts.
Location: Center for Children’s Books
Call Number: SE. G785f

Hall, Zoe.
It’s Pumpkin Time! 1994.
A sister and brother plant and tend their own pumpkin patch so they will have jack-o-lanterns for Halloween.
Location: Education S Collection
Call Number: Q.SE. H1495I

Heller, Nicholas.
*Goblins in Green. 1995.
A succession of goblins, from Annabelle in an amber blouse to Zelda in a zebra anorak, presents the letters of the alphabet.
Location: I-Share Libraries

Hubbard, Patricia.
Trick or Treat Countdown. 1999.
A counting book that lists scary sights on Halloween, from one haunted house to twelve creeping cats.
Location: Center for Children’s Books
Call Number: SE. H861t

Johnston, Tony.
Very Scary. 1995.
A pumpkin shimmering in the moonlight attracts the attention of an owl, a cat, crickets, a witch, and a group of boys and girls, who change it into a scary jack-o-lantern.
Location: Education Storage
Call Number: SE. J648VE

Krosoczka, Jarrett.
*Annie was Warned. 2003.
Disregarding warnings about the creepy mansion outside of town, Annie bravely goes to investigate on Halloween night and gets a big surprise.
Location: Education S Collection
Call Number: Q. SE. K928a

London, Jonathan.
Froggy’s Halloween. 1999.
Froggy tries to find just the right costume for Halloween and although his trick-or-treating does not go as he had planned, he enjoys himself anyway.
Location: Education S Collection
Call Number: Q. SE. L8462frog

Mathews, Judith & Robinson, Fay.
Nathaniel Willy, Scared Silly. 1994.
Nathaniel Willy is scared silly by a squeak in his door, so Gramma must put the farm animals in bed with him for company.
Location: Education Storage
Call Number: SE. M4242N

Mayr, Diane.
Littlebat’s Halloween Story. 2001.
Littlebat loves to listen to the stories being told below the attic where he sleeps, but he has to wait until just the right time to get close enough to hear them better.
Location: Education S Collection
Call Number: SE. M455l

McBratney, Sam.
*The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. 1996.
Knowing that he must satisfy their curiosity, an old mouse agrees to show three young mice the “monster” at the top of the stairs.
Location: Education Storage
Call Number: Q.SE. M1212D

Meister, Cari.
Luther’s Halloween. 2004.
On Halloween, a boy and his pet triceratops named Luther thwart a bully dressed as Dracula who has been taking candy from other trick-or-treaters.
Location: Education S Collection
Call Number: SE. M479l

Melmed, Laura Krauss.
Fright Night Flight. 2002.
On her way to Halloween trick-or-treating, a witch makes room on her broom for a group of fiendish friends.
Location: I-Share Libraries

Pilkey, Dav.
The Hallo-wiener. 1995.
All the other dogs make fun of Oscar the dachshund until one Halloween when, dressed as a hot dog, Oscar bravely rescues the others.
Location: Center for Children’s Books
Call Number: Q.SE. P644H

Preston, Edna Mitchell.
One Dark Night. [1969]
The Jack-o’-lantern, skeleton, scarecrow, witch, ghost, and robber who came sneaking down the road one dark night were all frightened home by the squeak of a mouse.
Location: I-Share Libraries

Rex, Michael.
Brooms Are for Flying! 2000.
A group of young trick-or-treaters demonstrate that “feet are for stomping,” “eyes are for peeking,” “mouths are for moaning,” and “tummies are for treating.”
Location: Education Storage
Call Number: SE. R3291b

Root, Phyllis.
Oliver Finds His Way. 2002.
Oliver the bear becomes lost when he chases a leaf to the edge of the woods, but then he comes up with an idea to find his way back home.
Location: Education Storage
Call Number: SE. R678ol

Serfozo, Mary.
Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin. 2001.
Peter finds the perfect pumpkin so that he and his Dad can make a jack-o-lantern.
Location: I-Share Libraries

Silverman, Erica.
Big Pumpkin. 1992.
A witch trying to pick a big pumpkin on Halloween discovers the value of cooperation when she gets help from a series of monsters.
Location: Education Storage
Call Number: Q.SE. SI393B

Thompson, Lauren.
Mouse’s First Halloween. 2000.
“One spooky night in the fall, Mouse creeps out and hears bats flying flit! flit! flit! and apples dropping plop! plop! plop! and children singing ‘trick or treat!’ What could it be?”
Location: Education S Collection
Call Number: SE. T3751mh

Wheeler, Lisa.
One Dark Night. 2003.
Mouse and Mole feel afraid one dark night crossing a mush-mucky swamp and a marsh-misty wood.
Location: Center for Children’s Books
Call Number: Q. SE. W565o

Williams, Linda.
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. 1986.
A little old lady who is not afraid of anything must deal with a pumpkin head, a tall black hat, and other spooky objects that follow her through the dark woods trying to scare her.
Location: I-Share Libraries

Wojciechowski, Susan.
The Best Halloween of All. 1998.
A young boy recalls all the Halloween costume agonies he’s been through, until, at last, he gets to do things his own way!
Location: Education Storage
Call Number: SE. W829b1998

Looking for more Halloween books?

While you are at the Online Library Catalog page
Click on ‘Advanced Search,’ and, in the search screen, type in the following words on the left column and make choices from the drop-down menus on the right:

Halloween – all of these words – Subject Words
juvenile – all of these words – Subject Words

Other subject words you may try in your search:
– Bats
– Costume
– Fear
– Ghosts
– Haunted houses
– Jack-o-lanterns
– Monsters
– Pumpkin
– Witches