Halloween Round-Up

I used to LOVE reading Halloween picture books and sharing them here and in storytimes and in videos, but that was almost a decade ago (what?!) and I was a completely different person. Now I'm the type of person to share a round-up post of Halloween books, so here we are! 

(I'm sure there are awesome Halloween picture books that have come out in the last few years so please share some recs in the comments!)

Trick Arrr Treat: a Pirate Halloween. 2015. Leslie Kimmelman, pictures by Jorge Monlongo. I’ve heard some people say that pirates are a trend in children’s literature that’s gone on a little too long, but they haven’t worn out their welcome with me! This book is especially enjoyable because it’s a realistic depiction of children going trick or treating on Halloween night. Picture books have the freedom of being far-fetched and imaginative, but that makes it all the more interesting to read a realistic Halloween book for kids. The rhymes in this book make it great to read aloud, and the illustrations are gorgeous.

It’s Raining Bats and Frogs. 2015. Written by Rebecca Colby, illustrated by Steven Henry. A young witch is trying to make sure the Halloween parade runs smoothly by casting spells to change the raindrops into other things. This is a silly story that you can make more engaging by letting the kids guess and identify the different items that start raining down on the parade.

Hedgehug’s Halloween. 2013. Created and illustrated by Dan Pinto, written by Benn Sutton. Hedgehug and his friends are going to a Halloween party, but Hedgehug can’t find a costume that fits his quills! This is a cute story of costume trials and errors. It’s fun to let your kids identify what costume Hedgehug tried and ruined, as well as ask them to guess what costumes would work well for a hedgehog!

Welcome to Monster Town. 2010. By Ryan Heshka. This book is better for older readers who can compare Monster Town’s “day” (which is night) to how we live. It’s also good for parents, with some clever jokes that might be over little kids’ heads. The illustrations are gorgeous, colorful, and enjoyable for all ages! It’s not too spooky, because though various ghouls, goblins, and monsters are depicted, they’re inviting and friendly, not gory or creepy.

The Spooky Wheels on the Bus by J. Elizabeth Mills, illustrated by Ben Mantle. This book is pretty simple because everyone knows "The Wheels on the Bus", but the spooky twist is really fun. Make sure your kids sing along with this new version! There's also a counting element to the song that makes it enjoyable as a book - you can point out and count spooky things in the illustrations.

Shivery Shades of Halloween: a Spooky Book of Colors by Mary McKenna Siddals, illustrated by Jimmy Pickering. Reviewed in this Halloween video.

Monster Trucks by Anika Denise, illustrated by Nate Wragg. This is a re-read for us, but it's been a favorite the past few weeks. This one will be reviewed in my Halloween spotlight post!

Hedgehog's Halloween by Benn Sutton and Dan Pinto. Cute book about Hedgehug's trouble finding the perfect costume. This book will be reviewed in more detail on my Halloween spotlight post!

Trick or Treat, Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen, illustrated by Dan Hanna. We always look forward to Pout-Pout Fish books, but this one was a bit disappointing. The story was very short, and Pout-Pout was a minor character, so there wasn't too much recognition for younger kids. Kids who have loved all of Pout-Pout's books might like the inside jokes of finding hints of Pout-Pout in the pages, but there's not enough to really carry the story.

 The Good, the Bad, and the Spooky by Jory John and Pete Oswald. Who doesn't love the Bad Seed and his friends? In this book, he's grumpy that no costume seems to suit him. It's Halloween night and everyone else looks amazing, so he decides that he has to cancel the holiday. Everyone is so disappointed, but with a little help, the Bad Seed realizes that Halloween is a chance to have fun. Once he lets go of his bad mood, he's able to find the perfect costume. Can you guess what it is?

Pick a Pumpkin by Patricia Toht, illustrated by Jarvis. This fun picture book tells the story of Halloween traditions like visiting a pumpkin patch, carving a Jack-o-lantern, and trick-or-treating. The rhymes make the story nice to read aloud, and there are natural pauses built in where your kids can guess what comes next. The illustrations are gorgeous and depict diverse children.

Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex. This is a parody of Goodnight Moon, with a little monster boy saying goodnight to various creepy things around his tomb. I'm not a big fan of the original Goodnight Moon (I know, gasp! What kind of mother am I, etc) but I do like this version with monsters and creepy crawlies added in. I really like that Michael Rex has made the illustrations look classic, like they could have been the original illustrations.

The Runaway Mummy by Michael Rex. This is by far my favorite out of these parodies. I love The Runaway Bunny in its original form, so I was really looking forward to the spooky adaptation. A boy mummy is trying to leave his mummy behind by changing into a sea serpent, gargoyle, and more, but his mummy always changes into something else to be near him. This one has a really great twist ending that made me chuckle, making it my favorite of the parodies.

Mother Ghost: Nursery Rhymes for Little Monsters by Rachel Kolar, illustrated by Roland Garrigue. I love creepy rhymes, and twists on Mother Goose rhymes are always engaging because most kids know what the original rhyme is, so they can appreciate the satire. My son and I read this all the way through, then talked about our favorites and went back to re-read them. I could see using these as quick breaks for use in the school library, though. They're fun to read aloud and can be shared without having all of the students sit and listen to an entire story. It'd be fun to recite them before and after books during the week leading up to Halloween.

Here are some Halloween storytime ideas. And check out more reviews in these videos:

Don't forget to share some recs in the comments!

The Day Santa Stopped Believing in Harold by Maureen Fergus and Cale Atkinson

This is such a fun story about what happens when Santa starts doubting that a child is real. He thinks the Mom writes the letter to him, and the dad puts out the cookies. Sure, Harold sat on Santa's lap last year, but that kid didn't even look like the Harold Santa remembers!

At the same time, Harold isn't sure he believes in Santa anymore, He decides to hide on Christmas Eve to catch Santa in the act of leaving presents. Santa decides that he will also hide in Harold's living room, to see if Harold runs out on Christmas morning, excited to open his presents. While both of these sound like good plans, something is bound to go wrong...

This book is fun for children of all ages - and the adults reading it aloud! It's a nice twist on a Santa story, very humorous, and Atkinson's illustrations are amazing as always.

The Twelve Bots of Christmas by Nathan Hale

We've had this book for a few years, so I'm surprised I haven't featured it before. As someone who isn't the biggest fan of Christmas music (several radio stations here start playing it 24/7 before Thanksgiving), having a fresh, silly twist on a classic is a delight to read aloud - and then get stuck in your head!

This is a tech-y, robotic take on the Twelve Days of Christmas featuring a Robo-Santa giving, among other things, a cartridge in a gear tree. The words fit perfectly to the original tune, and the detailed illustrations give you and your kid a lot to look at on each page. I can't recommend this one enough if you're looking for a fun, silly spoof of a Christmas book.

The Great Santa Stakeout by Betsy Bird, illustrated by Dan Santat

I'm biased since he's one of my favorites, but nothing beats Dan Santat's illustrations. Here, his work is perfectly paired with a whimsical story by Betsy Bird about Freddy, who is Santa's biggest fan. Freddy has all the Santa merchandise and Christmas paraphernalia you could think of, but he's desperate for a selfie with the man himself. He hatches a devious plot and draws up plans to delay Santa and make sure he gets a picture.

This story is so silly to read aloud, and as I said, I always love Santat's illustrations. I can't wait to read more picture books by Bird.

As a former public librarian and current school librarian, I'm pretty thoughtful about what holiday books I read to children. I don't want to highlight one holiday and ignore another, so a careful balance is necessary. This book should definitely be added in to any rotation of winter holiday stories, because whether the listeners celebrate Christmas or not, they can enjoy the details of Freddy's Santa-catching plan and relate to loving a famous figure so much, you'll do anything to meet them!

The Worst Christmas Ever by Kathleen Long Bostrom and illustrated by Guy Porfirio

Thanks to the @kidlitexchange network and Flyaway Books for the review copy of this book - all opinions are my own. The Worst Christmas Ever, by Kathleen Long Bostrom and illustrated by Guy Porfirio released September 17th, which gives you time to get your own copy before Christmas!

Matthew's family moves to California in the fall, and as they're getting ready for Christmas, Matthew is sad that there's not much changing of the seasons in their new state. The family gets a Christmas tree and volunteers to be in their church's nativity scene to feel the holiday spirit. Then Jasper, Matthew's beloved dog, goes missing! Matthew is upset about being in a new place that doesn't feel like home OR Christmas, and now he has to hope for a miracle to find his dog again.

This is a lot of story packed into a gorgeous picture book! Even though it's still hot and humid outside with Christmas several months away, my son loved reading this book and asked for it several nights in a row. It's not overly holiday-themed, so don't worry about reading it too early in the year and getting tired of it - this is one you won't mind reading over and over!

12 Days of Christmas Storytime

This year I had it together enough to do the 12 Days of Christmas Storytime with my son. Our bedtime routine lately has been a little rushed, as we get home late from after-school activities or have errands to run, so it's been a race to get dinner, bathe and brush teeth, and get to bed at a reasonable time before we have to start all over again. Sometimes I'd be too tired to wait for my son to pick a book and read it to him, and often it was the same one we'd just read a million times. I know that everyone has favorites, and re-reading books with kids is only good for them, but... I mean, I was really tired, ok? Mom-shame all you want, but some days, there was no way a bedtime story was happening, no matter how much he wanted it. And I'm sure you can imagine how much it hurt my librarian-mom heart to say no, but for sanity's sake, I'd have to.

12 Days of Christmas Storytime helped us make sure we prioritized reading together. My son loved opening a new book every day. The best part is - they weren't all new! Many were bought heavily discounted when our local bookstore closed last year, and I had tucked them away so I wouldn't give my son a ton of new books at once. Others were bought at our school's book fair. Others were bought from a used bookstore or from the library's discard cart. There's no need to break the bank if you want to do this with your kids! It's definitely possible to keep it affordable. I used a patchwork of leftover wrapping paper scraps, so I didn't have to buy or use new resources for that, either. Some were even wrapped in brown kraft paper, or a layer of tissue paper! My son is young enough to not care about presentation (if he ever will?) as much as the opening part!

All of these books were new to us, so they were fun to read. We went to bed knowing what book we were going to read, and my son did his necessary tasks a little bit faster knowing he had a new story to read. (He is usually the king of dawdling, so this kick in the pants was nice.)

I'm definitely going to start stockpiling books to do this again next year! I might even keep an extra stash of new-to-us books to use as incentives when it seems like we're not going to get a bedtime story that night. I think it will inspire both of us to get our chores out of the way and get ready for bed!

Check out the books we read for 12 Days of Christmas Storytime on Instagram - @howifeelaboutbooks.

Happy New Year from Pete the Cat!

We are huge fans of Pete the Cat around here, as you can see from the sampling of our books, the keychain I keep on my bag, and the pouch I use for pens and USB drives.

(Yes, all the cute accessories are mine. Selfish? No - my son can have them when he's old enough to appreciate them. For now, they are mine all mine!)

For several days now, we have been watching the new Pete the Cat show on Amazon Prime. Have you seen it? Only one episode is up right now; it was released on Christmas Day but the story is about New Years resolutions. It's cute to see Pete as a "real" cat, and all his friends are so much fun!

The only negative I can think of, and this is incredibly minor, is that Pete doesn't talk until the very end of the episode. All of the other characters are pretty chatty, and even my three-year-old son said "Pete can't talk because he doesn't have a mouth." Which is true - there is no mouth most of the time, but Pete does talk at the end, so clearly that's not the issue. I just would have like to hear more from him.

I think Pete the Cat books make a huge difference with kids' literacy, reading enjoyment, and vocabulary, based on what I have seen with my son and the kids at school where I teach. Having Pete not talk on the show seemed to be a strange decision. But it's still an enjoyable episode, and we've watched it a few times and it hasn't gotten old. We're looking forward to more episodes.

Amazon does a pretty good job with their kids' shows based on books - we're also huge fans of the Stinky and Dirty Show, based on the books by Kate McMullan and Jim McMullan.