It’s that time of year again! The leaves are falling and Halloween is on its way. And what better way to celebrate than with the best Halloween books for kids to read in 2021!
These Halloween books for kids are wildly entertaining and full of spooky (and not so spooky) moments. With this list, you’ll find a number of books to add to your reading this month, both in the classroom and at home.
Whether you’re looking for Halloween picture books or board books, this list is full of options for kids of any age. You’ll find books about bats, ghosts, witches, pumpkins and so much more!
These Halloween books are perfect for classroom read-alouds, bedtime reading and are great additions to classroom libraries.
Looking for more Halloween books for kids? Be sure to check out this list, which features 25 more Halloween books for kids.
And if you’re looking for older readers, try this list of spooky and mysterious middle grade books!
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Best Halloween Books for Kids in 2021
Environmental activism gets a nocturnal twist in this utterly charming picture book about a young girl and her mission to save the bats!
Amara loves bats! Her favorite thing to do is to collect bat facts and watch the amazing mammals fly at night by her house. But when Amara moves to a new town, she learns that her beloved bats no longer roost nearby because so many trees are being cut down.
Amara is upset. What can she do to help? She’s just one person, and the problem feels so much bigger than her. But after doing some research, she discovers that there are many young people making big changes all around the world. Inspired to take action, Amara gathers her new friends to help save the bats. Together, she knows they can make a difference!
Emma Reynolds crafts an inspiring story about community action, perseverance, and what to do in the face of climate anxiety. At its heart, this is a story about hope and finding a place to call home.
Celebrate the Halloween season with your favorite family of bears in this storybook featuring three Halloween-themed extras: stickers, a spooky poster, and cards!
It’s trick-or-treat season in Bear Country, and the whole neighborhood is getting together for the big Halloween party at the Bear family’s treehouse! There will be a big Halloween parade, ghoulish games, a monstrous costume contest, and trick-or-treating for everyone. Brother, Sister and Honey can hardly wait for all the ghostly goodies and fun!
The Berenstain Bears books have been loved by generations, and with well-known characters and beautiful illustrations, this storybook is perfect for young readers celebrating Halloween. Plus with stickers, a poster, and cards, there’s extra fun and value with this funny Halloween treat.
Need a Halloween costume idea? Eenie Meenie has plenty!
In this rhythmic read-aloud picture book, a little girl wonders what she should be for Halloween. Good thing she has a dress-up trunk full of different costume ideas!
Eenie meenie Halloweenie, kitty, bat, or snake? Perhaps a bear? I might just wear a costume that I make!
It’s Halloween eve, and a little girl has a dress-up trunk full of different costume ideas! Orange tights and Daddy’s tux can transform her into a penguin—or she could be an elephant, with pillowcases for her ears and a sock for her nose! What costume will she choose?
Eenie Meenie Halloweenie is a celebration of the ingenuity of an adorable girl creating fun costumes from everyday materials. Readers will be inspired to do the same!
This jacketed hardcover picture book is perfect for the not-so-spooky storytime.
A young slime scientist is surprised when her latest creation comes to life in this funny and clever picture book twist on Frankenstein.
Victoria Franken is a slime scientist.
Her experiments lead to amazing slimes. Until, one dark and stormy night, her latest experiment goes awry and her newest creation COMES TO LIFE!
Joy Keller’s clever text and Ashley Belote’s (humor-filled art combine to create a fun picture book twist on horror movies like Frankenstein and The Blob, that also explores the scientific method and the importance of recording observations and results. The author has also included a couple of Victoria’s best slime recipes, although you’ll notice the secret formula for making a Frankenstein slime is missing.
Holiday • Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
A fun, rhyming read-aloud Halloween picture book that starts a new holiday tradition. Perfect for kids 4-8 or any young child wanting to celebrate the spookiest season of the year!
Marching in the school parade
in frightening costumes that we’ve made;
Look around, the signs are clear,
Halloween is getting near!
Halloween is Coming is a lyrical celebration of the building excitement that children—and adults!—feel as the magical and mysterious night of Halloween approaches.
Board Book, Holiday • Sourcebooks Wonderland
Snuggle your little pumpkin and show them you love them with this boo-tifully pun-tastic book made for little hands! It’s a sweet and punderful way to celebrate Halloween with someone you love.
Show your little pumpkin there’s always broom for more love and get ready to read Happy Meow-loween Little Pumpkin again and again!
Ghost Story • Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
From the bestselling creator of Not Quite Narwhal comes a delightfully spooky story about an old house who wants to be a home … even if her new family isn’t what she expected.
House has a problem.
She’s a little spooky. She’s a little cobwebby. Oh, no! What if she’s haunted?
She’s not sure, but … her hinges creak. Her pipes bang. And on windy days, the branches scritch-scratch at her windows. She tries to hold her breath and be as still as possible. If she’s on her best behavior, maybe a family will move in.
How will House ever find a family that doesn’t mind being haunted?
Board Book, Holiday • Sourcebooks Wonderland
Experience the magic of an all new How to Catch story for a younger audience!
The New York Times and USA Today bestselling How to Catch brand is expanding with its first-ever board book series for the youngest little ones!
When a little girl is trick-or-treating on Halloween, she leaves behind a series of traps at her house in the hopes of catching a witch in her backyard. Her greatest wish is to ask the witch for a ride on her broom so that she can fly to the moon and grab her very own twinkle star! With adorable art and cute rhymes, this sweet new story is sure to be a Halloween treat!
Holiday • Albert Whitman & Company
Groana, Moana, and Shrieky are three little ghosties learning the tricks to giving a good scare. They stomp around, spook family pets, and slam toilet seats. They’re all set to pass their Halloween test, until they find a family that doesn’t scare easily. In fact, they LOVE everything the ghosties send their way—especially the bats and rats!
What does it take to horrify a household like this one? Sometimes you have to think outside the box (or casket!) to find a way around a problem.
What does it take to help a pumpkin grow? Find out in this warm, rhyming tale of gardening and unexpected friendship.
Dog is planting a garden, doing all he can to help his pumpkins grow: protecting them from snow, weeding and watering their patch, and keeping them safe from barnyard creatures who might eat the sprouts! But are Crow, Rabbit, Duck, and Goat really out to destroy the garden? Or are they be new friends hoping to pitch in and help the pumpkins thrive?
Skeletons might seem frightening, but if you look closer, there’s nothing much to fear. They can’t run fast, they’re terrible at hide-and-seek, and they’re scared of everything. When a group of trick-or-treaters runs into an actual skeleton on an enchanted Halloween night, they do whatever they can get away. But what does the skeleton really want? What if they’re just looking for a friend?
With distinctive, quirky illustrations and humorous rhyming text, this book invites you to find out whether this bag of bones is a trick or a treat!
A fun Halloween Little Golden Book about young twin boys going trick-or-treating.
It’s Halloween! Twin bothers Nick and Toby are excited to choose their own costumes and go trick-or-treating with their parents. This Little Golden Book is perfect for young boys and girls getting ready for their own Halloween fun because the story mentions what to expect and how to act—including only taking one candy when a whole bowl is left out, saying thank you, checking out a neighborhood haunted house, and, of course, sharing candy with your parents!
From the team behind Ten Minutes to Bed Little Unicorn; a little monster who would rather do anything but sleep …
This is the perfect bedtime story for every little monster’s bedtime!
It’s full of magic, big paws, fluffy fur and little claws.
Belch the monster is supposed to be settling down for bedtime, but with so many distractions it looks like bedtime could be quite a way away …
Count down from ten as you journey through the beautifully illustrated, gradually calming pages of this gorgeous bedtime story.
Pig the Pug celebrates Halloween in this picture book from #1 New York Times bestselling author-illustrator Aaron Blabey.
Pig was a pug
and I’m sorry to say,
on Halloween night
he’d get carried away …
Pig, the world’s greediest pug, is on the rampage for TREATS! TREATS! TREATS! But don’t even think about being stingy with the goodies, because this candy-fueled glutton has some terrible tricks up his sleeve …
Rich with author-illustrator Aaron Blabey’s signature rhyming text and unforgettable illustrations, Pig the Monster is a laugh-out-loud story that follows the eight previous books in the series.
From a debut picture-book author and a #1 New York Times best-selling illustrator, a wry take on “Why did the chicken cross the road?” that gives a whole new meaning to “the Other Side.” Cock-a-doodle-BOO!
It’s punny. It’s spooky. It’s a meta picture book that puts a fresh spin on an old joke and elevates chicken comedy to ghastly new levels. A little spring chicken crosses the road but quickly gets flattened under a semitruck. The barnyard beasts who’ve gone before break the news: now that Chicken’s fried–dispatched to the Other Side–Chicken has a job, an unwanted job, as a noisy troublemaking ghost. This fowl may be weak in the beak, but Chicken knows that scaring people isn’t nice. There is such a thing as a friendly ghost, after all–isn’t there? Loaded with laughs and shivers, this Halloween-ready treat features ghoulishly funny art by the illustrator of the #1 New York Times best-selling Bad Seed series. Let the haunting begin!
No chickens were harmed in the making of this book.
Halloween is time to pick pumpkins and carve them into pumpkin heads—jack-o’-lanterns of every shape and size!
Award-winning author and artist Wendell Minor uses simple language and striking autumn settings to celebrate jack-o’-lanterns in this reissue of a Halloween classic. The perfect holiday read aloud, Pumpkin Heads takes readers and trick-or-treaters from the pumpkin patch for picking, all the way home for carving, and gets everyone in the Halloween spirit.
The snowmen are getting their Halloween costumes ready for the latest picture book in this New York Times bestselling series.
Have you ever built a snowman and discovered the next day that his grin has gotten a little crooked, or his tree-branch arms have moved? And you’ve wondered … what do snowmen do when we’re not watching?
After an early snowfall, a few kids build some snowmen before going trick-or-treating. And when the kids go off to bed, the snowmen have their own Halloween festival! There’s candy and apple-bobbing and costume contests and all sorts of autumn activities. When the kids wake up the next morning, the snowmen are gone … but they’ve left a very special message behind.
Join celebrated creator Gris Grimly in this spooky countdown, as one little girl ventures out into the night for an unforgettable Halloween adventure!
10 little pumpkins, sitting in a line,
looking for a cat and they found nine.
The wind said SWOOSH and the gate went CREAK.
The owl cried WHOOOO, we all screamed EEK!
Celebrated creator Gris Grimly, widely known for his gothic style illustrations, puts a spooky twist on a favorite preschool rhyme in this Halloween read-aloud. Join goblins, ghosts, witches, and more in this rhythmic countdown, traveling through the countryside and discovering more Halloween creatures along the way. Finally, the story culminates with them all joining together in a joyful celebration under the full harvest moon, dancing until it’s time for bed. Paired with Gris Grimly’s sweeping, stunning watercolor illustrations and a rhyming refrain reminiscent of classics like We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, this is a read-aloud for the whole family to cherish.
Based on the New York Times bestselling picture book sensation The Bad Seed, Jory John and Pete Oswald present: The Good, the Bad, and the Spooky! Includes two sticker sheets, perfect for decorating your own mini jack-o’-lantern.
Halloween is the Bad Seed’s favorite holiday of the year. But what’s a seed to do when he can’t find a show-stopping costume for the big night? Postpone trick-or-treating for everyone, of course!
Can he get a costume together in time? Or will this seed return to his baaaaaaaaad ways?
Find out in this hilarious, charming, and thought-provoking continuation of Jory John and Pete Oswald’s bestselling series.
Experience Disney Parks’ famous Haunted Mansion like never before with this Little Golden Book-perfect for Halloween!
It’s easy to get into the Haunted Mansion … but can you find your way out? Join the Ghost Host and search your way through all the creep-tastic rooms of Disney Parks’ Haunted Mansion-from the ominous Séance Room, to the ghoulish party in Grand Hall, to the attic that holds many scary secrets.
Perfect for Disney and Little Golden Book fans of all ages, this spooky story is great for Halloween or anytime. The book will be available in time for Disney World’s 50th anniversary in 2021, allowing you to celebrate no matter where you are!
Get ready to giggle with these riddles about the silly sounds of Halloween!
What goes BOOOO MUNCH MUNCH?
A ghost eating toast!
With the silly sounds of Halloween on the left-hand page and the funny reveal on the right, the riddles and rhymes in this lift-the-flap board book will delight both trickers and treaters. The silly sounds are made by little kids in Halloween costumes who have found themselves in silly situations!
Other Halloween board books ask the same old questions like “Who goes Booo?” But not this one! Surprising and very silly, it will become a favorite—and creating your own silly sound riddles makes for a fun rhyming game for children, parents, and teachers to try together.
Imagination, Holiday • Random House Books for Young Readers
Just in time for Halloween, an adorable little witch has landed in YOUR book! An engaging new adventure from the team that brought you There’s a Monster in Your Book and its companions.
A grumpy little witch has thrown a magic spell at you! If you can capture it, you can use your finger wand to make magic yourself in this interactive book. But, be careful! Your bewitched finger wand might be more powerful than you think! Look for Tom Fletcher and Greg Abbott’s companion books for more read-aloud fun: There’s a Dragon in Your Book, There’s an Elf in Your Book, There’s an Alien in Your Book, and There’s a Superhero in Your Book!
Holiday • Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Even the grumpiest kiddos will cheerfully gobble up this the delicious follow-up to Crankenstein and A Crankenstein Valentine!
This year, Crankenstein’s favorite day of all—Halloween—has gone rotten! Creepy-cool costumes, super-scary jack-o’-lanterns, and loads of candy have been RUINED by costume disasters, pumpkin-carving nightmares, and a terribly untimely toothache! MEHHRRRR!!! Can Halloween be saved, or will today turn into the crankiest Halloween in history?
Samantha Berger’s beloved “crankster” character confronts all the wicked tricks and treats of Halloween in this bucket full of laughs, illustrated by bestselling, award-winning artist Dan Santat.
Vampires • Atheneum Books for Young Readers
From the critically acclaimed author and illustrator of A Hungry Lion and Stumpkin comes a charming, wryly humorous story of adventure, mistaken identity, and a vampire family’s day at the zoo.
On a Saturday morning, baby Dracula visits the zoo with his family, where baby Penguin lives with hers. But these intrepid young adventurers are not content with staying in their proper places.
Instead, baby Dracula slips into the Penguin House to spend the day eating, swimming, and hanging around, while baby Penguin waddles into the stroller to explore the rest of the zoo. Dracula’s family doesn’t even notice the switch—will they bring the right baby home?
Observant and adventurous young readers will love this tale of the shenanigans that happen when parents’ backs are turned.
Holiday • Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
In this delightful twist on a popular folk song, three trick-or-treaters go on a spooky adventure to find a pumpkin!
We’re going on a pumpkin hunt.
We’re going to find a big one.
What a beautiful night!
We’re not scared.
Three trick-or-treaters are looking for the perfect pumpkin on a beautiful, Halloween night. They have to make their way through some sticky cobwebs, flying bats, and even a dark, spooky house! But they’re not scared. The trick-or-treaters eventually find their pumpkin and … a ghost!
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