31 Halloween Children’s Books To Read In October

When a generous witch loses her hat, wand, and bow in the wind while riding her broomstick, helpful animal friends return her possessions and then ask for a ride on her broomstick in return. Read about their adventures — including a run-in with a hungry dragon — in Julia Donaldson’s Room on the Broom.

When Helen and her dog Martha enter a supermarket on Halloween night, they’re surprised to learn that the store is intended for witches and their cats only. Dressed as a witch and a cat in their trick-or-treat attire, they explore the curious store filled with flying broomsticks, apples with worms, and more.

If your kids enjoy the classic story Goodnight Moon, they’ll absolutely love the Halloween spin-off version, Goodnight Goon. Aptly subtitled A Petrifying Parody, the hilarious story follows the same format as Goodnight Moon, but is set in a tomb with a black lagoon where a little werewolf tries to settle in for the night despite a goon determined to wreak havoc.

Frankenstein: A Monstrous Parody is basically a silly re-telling of the classic children’s story Madeline, but with the iconic monster Frankenstein as the main character. It’s a super fun read to get kids excited about spooky season in the most hilarious way.

Even the youngest readers can enjoy this not-so-scary Halloween-themed book, Dr. Seuss’s Spooky Things. They can read along with fun rhymes as Thing One and Thing Two get ready for the holiday and dress up in classic costumes like pumpkins, mummies, ghosts, and more.

Kids who know and love the adorable Pig the Pug series will surely enjoy Pig the Monster this Halloween season. They’ll laugh along as Pig engages in a candy-fueled search for as many treats as his paws can handle.

In The Bad Seed Presents: The Good, The Bad, & The Spooky, the search is underway for the perfect costume to wear for the Bad Seed’s favorite holiday, but when he can’t find what he wants, he threatens to postpone trick-or-treating and return to his terrible ways. Read this slightly spooky story to find out if the Bad Seed’s friends can help turn his attitude around.

Kids who love diggers and all things construction-related will enjoy this Halloween read by Brianna Caplan Sayres. Where Do Diggers Trick-Or-Treat features a variety of big trucks as they celebrate the season in various costumes with lots and lots of candy.

Little kids will love this Halloween-themed touch-and-feel board book that warns to Never Touch A Grumpy Bat — unless it’s the one in this book, that is.

Not all monsters are scary, and Halloween is the perfect time to remind kids of that fact. The silly monster in There’s A Monster In Your Book can be found upside down and on the edges of pages as kids twist and turn the book to keep up with the not-so-scary character.

In Hardly Haunted, an old creaky house yearns to be a home despite her spooky exterior and an abundance of cobwebs. This delightful read is a great segue into the Halloween season that proves not all things that seem scary actually are.

If your child loves to learn, they can glean lots of fun facts about bats and bugs in Trick Or Treat, Bugs To Eat as they follow along with the story’s hungry bat in his search for yummy bugs to eat.

The lyrical text of Halloween is Coming makes it the perfect read-along for younger kids to help them get excited about the upcoming holiday.

This interactive read is perfect for families to make Halloween memories together. Page-by-page instructions that accompany the story of Witch’s Brew guide readers through how to make scrumptiously spooky snacks to celebrate Halloween.

Despite being an actual ghost, the main character of this story realizes that he is afraid of the dark as he celebrates Halloween with all of his other monster friends. The best part about Ghost Afraid of the Dark though is that the cover actually glows in the dark.

In the fun story, How to Catch a Witch, a little girl’s imagination runs amuck (Amuck! Amuck!) with all of the possible ways she can come up with that may work to catch an actual witch flying around on her broomstick.

Even though Farmer Brown doesn’t like Halloween, the barnyard animals on his farm decide to celebrate anyway and play plenty of tricks along the way in Click, Clack, Boo!

Fans of the Little Blue Truck series will enjoy this interactive lift-the-flap story. In Little Blue Truck’s Halloween, the Little Blue Truck picks up his animal friends to head to a costume party and each flap reveals a fun, new costumed friend.

A follow-up to the hilarious books Crankenstein and A Crankenstein Valentine, read what happens when Crankenstein’s favorite day of the year is absolutely ruined by catastrophe after catastrophe — including a dreaded toothache — in Trick Or Treat, Crankenstein.

Anyone who doesn’t quite fit in will surely relate to Christopher Pumpkin, a pumpkin who prefers cupcakes and hugs to cobwebs and slugs, but decides to throw a decidedly scary soiree for Halloween anyway.

Carrots are Jasper Rabbit’s favorite treat, until the ones in his favorite patch start to turn on him. But not all is as it seems. The zombie-style story Creepy Carrots! is the perfect sort-of-scary children’s book to read this Halloween.

This cheery children’s book puts a Halloween spin on the classic Christmas tale The Night Before Christmas. Written in poem form, kids will delight in the silly details of The Night Before Halloween.

Contrary to what the title alludes to, this is in fact, not actually The Scariest Book Ever. Narrated by a melodramatic ghost who is afraid of everything, he learns page after page that the things around him aren’t really so scary after all.

The beloved author and illustrator of Dog Man and Captain Underpants, Dav Pikley, delights with the story of The Hallo-Weiner. After a little dog is teased and tricked by his peers, he turns things around by saving Halloween for everyone.

In How to Make Friends with a Ghost, readers will learn about all of the things ghosts want from a friendship — mud tarts, earwax truffles, and bedtime stories just to name a few. This endearing picture book is a great read to cuddle up with on a cool October night.

If you don’t already have It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on your bookshelf, this is the year to add it to your kid’s collection. The classic tale based on the beloved television special is the perfect way to celebrate the season.

This incredibly sweet read stars Winifred Schnitzel, who isn’t afraid of the monsters who roam her neighborhood, but just wants them to let her sleep. Read Monster Trouble this Halloween to find out what Winifred does to try to keep the noisy monsters at bay.

Just as the title suggests, this silly story is all about Vegetables in Halloween Costumes. It’s a simple board book with bright, colorful illustrations of vegetables getting dressed up for a Halloween party.

If your kids would rather read about pumpkins over all of the other Halloween-related things, Runaway Pumpkins is a lighthearted fall read that they can enjoy. When a class field trip to a pumpkin farm goes awry, a group of students makes the best of a less-than-ideal situation to celebrate the season.

Yet another hilarious Halloween parody by Michael Rex, The Runaway Mummy is a spoof of the classic children’s book by Margaret Wise Brown, The Runaway Bunny, but with a little mummy and his mummy mom as the main characters.

What happens when snowmen roam the streets on Halloween? You can find out when you read Snowmen At Halloween, the silly tale about a gang of wintry snowmen built by trick-or-treaters who make their own fun when everyone else goes to sleep on Halloween night.