Baby and Kids
The Best Fall and Halloween Books for Kids
Celebrating holidays with kids is the best. Halloween has never been my favorite holiday, but my kids love it, and I love making the holidays fun for my kids. It’s so fun to create memories and traditions that kick off the holiday season. One of those traditions is setting up seasonal bookshelves for my kids – I have found some of the best cute but spooky books for holidays, and it’s always fun and festive. My first year as a mom, I bought what may have been a few too many spooky but sweet books – it’s so fun getting to do things like this. Here are the best Halloween books for little kids.
The Best Fall and Halloween Books for Kids
At 3 and 5, my girls have been talking about the perfect costume for months.I kind of want to throw a Halloween party this year. We could turn our house into a (cute) haunted house. We keep it cute minus a giant 12′ skeleton that’s a little creepy but still fun. Now that I’m a mom, I’m all about the pumpkin patch, a good Halloween costume (or Halloween theme) and just love this time of year.
I realize there are a lot of books on this list, but we love them all. And In my defense, we’ll read them every year as my kids grow up, so they felt like a worthwhile investment. I put them away when the season ends and bring them out each fall – it’s so much fun. I also bought this “Boo” garland that again, we’ll use year after year. So here are our favorite Halloween books to get your babies, toddlers, and young readers into the Halloween spirit. I’ve included a mix of board books and picture books that your family will treasure each fall. Here’s my list of the best Halloween books for little kids.
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The Best Children’s Books for Halloween and Fall
We read at least 2 of these every night (plus “Be Kind” because she always asks for “kiiiii”). Starting with the ones we love most at the top, here are our favorite books for fall and Halloween.
You're My Little Pumpkin Pie
Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin
Ollie's Halloween
Goodbye Summer Hello Autumn
Pick a Pumpkin
Mouse's First Fall
Cats' Night Out
Gibert the Ghost
Room on the Broom
This best seller is one of our favorite classic Halloween books. It's the perfect read-aloud for little kids, so much that we have the Room on the Broom Tonie for our Toniebox. This is probably one of the only scary books on this list, but it's not too scary for my kids. There is a dragon that wants to eat the witch though, so if that's too much for you, I'd skip this one. A little witch goes on an adventure and makes new friends along the way. It's a cute story for little kids, and is perfect for little kids during the Halloween season.
Bear Has a Story to Tell
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves
Sophie's Squash
The Leaf Thief
Eek! Halloween!
The Little Kitten
The Bad Seed: The Good, The Bad, and The Spooky
Little Blue Truck's Halloween
You're My Little Baby Boo
You’re My Little Pumpkin Pie
This very thick board book is one of the best books for babies. My girls loved pointing out the pumpkins, bats, and stars when they were little, and we’ll now get to read this one to their baby brother. It features everything Halloween from a little bat and black cats, and is a fun book for little ones.
Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin
This book is short and sweet, and like all the Duck and Goose books, one of the best books for little ones. A search for a pumpkin ends with duck and goose finding the biggest pumpkin in the patch. Great when you don’t want to skip the tradition of reading a book before bed but baby needs to go to sleep ASAP. It’s pretty cute, too.
Ollie’s Halloween
My 2 year old loves the Ollie book series. If you’re looking for great Halloween books for your kids, you need to add Ollie’s Halloween to your list. It is simple and just a little spooky (but not scary) and ends with the message of Halloween being a time to share so you know I’m into it.
Goodbye Summer Hello Autumn
This book is so beautiful and so, so sweet. We have goodbye autumn, hello winter, too. It’s such a sentimental book to read this time of year – so beautifully written and illustrated.
Pick a Pumpkin
Nothing will get you in the Halloween mood like Pick a Pumpkin. I love this one so, so much. We have Pick a Pine Tree and that one is a lot more magical and beautiful (because Christmas) but this book is really sweet, too. It’s a sweet story about picking a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and gathering together to carve and decorate with friends.
Mouse’s First Fall
I’ll be the first to admit that this isn’t exactly well-written and it’s a little cheesy for my taste. It isn’t a good book by any means, but it’s cute, short and sweet, and simple for babies and young toddlers, so it made the cut.
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Cats’ Night Out
This isn’t that Halloween-y but it’s a good book, and I really like the illustrations. I’m also a cat person (don’t you dare judge me) and really wanted to have this on my daughter’s bookshelf for Halloween.
Gilbert the Ghost
Oh, I love Gilbert. He’s a sweet little ghost who goes off to ghost boarding school but doesn’t want to be (and isn’t scary). It’s a great way to get kids talking about kindness, being different, and staying true to who they are.
Room on the Broom
This best seller is one of our favorite classic Halloween books. It’s the perfect read-aloud for little kids, so much that we have the Room on the Broom Tonie for our Toniebox. A little witch goes on an adventure and makes new friends along the way. It’s a cute story for little kids, and is perfect for little kids during the Halloween season.
Bear Has a Story to Tell
This sweet story is the perfect fall book about a bear who wants to share a story with his friends, but has to hibernate for winter.
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves
Fletcher worries that something is very wrong when the leaves start to fall off his favorite tree. But then, a wonderful surprise takes place. This story is sweet, simple, and quite magical.
B is for Boo
Learn the alphabet and all things spooky this halloween.
Sophie’s Squash
This is the perfect book for ages 3+ and is perfect to read this time of year. I really love the main character – she falls in love with and becomes a mother to a squash that starts to rot, but plants it in the ground and grows baby squash. The perfect way to talk about waiting, love, and and how seasons change. It’s such a great conversation starter for little kids.
The Leaf Thief
The Leaf Thief is darling – a funny, silly story of a neurotic and sort of relatable squirrel who thinks someone is after his leaves. Some helpful animals help him realize it was, in fact, the wind that stole his leaves.
Eek! Halloween!
This book about chickens noticing strange things happening during spooky season is short, sweet, and a little weird. And my 2 year old absolutely loves it.
The Little Kitten
Another really sweet (and not spooky) story. Ollie and Pumpkin are out enjoying a beautiful fall day when they find a tiny kitten. They go on an adventure to take the kitten home, and there’s a magic twist at the end when you see the kitten flying on a witch’s broom.
The Bad Seed: The Good, The Bad, and The Spooky
We got really into the bad seed books this year, so I had to snag this spooky addition for Halloween.
Little Blue Truck’s Halloween
Another new addition this year, my kids love the Little Blue Truck book. And since I want to have a few seasonal board books in Jack’s room, I ended up adding it to our collection.
You’re My Little Baby Boo
The You’re My Little series of books are so, so sweet. We have most of them. They are very short, so they’re perfect when your baby or toddler is really tired but still wants a book.
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