Halloween Children's Books

My daughter and I put out our Halloween decorations this weekend.  I have to admit, Halloween is not my favorite holiday.  It may stem from the fact that I spent some years teaching first grade.  Ask most any elementary school teacher and they will probably tell you they hate Halloween.  Anyway, I have really been trying to focus on traditions lately with my family.  I have been amazed how excited my young kids get by any type of tradition.  My 3 year old daughter was on cloud nine about putting up decorations.  The ones you see pictured are pretty much all I have, but I did buy a package of glittered cardboard Halloween cutouts and some vinyl window clings and you would think I had spent millions on decorations rather than pennies from the reaction they got.  Tonight I decided that I needed to do what I had seen some others throughout blogland do.  I needed to look through my book collection and find any Halloween ones I have and put them in a basket to read with the kids for the rest of the month.  I knew I had a few, but I didn't think there were that many, boy was I wrong.  Here is a list of what I found:

*Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex

Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve (Magic Treehouse #30) by Mary Pope Osborne

*Mercy Watson: Princess in Disguise by Kate DiCamillo

The Witch Goes to School by Norman Bridwell

The Halloween Parade by Rosemary Wells

Ready, Freddy! Apple Orchard Race by Abby Klein

Alice Nizzy Nazzy: The Witch of Santa Fe by Tony Johnston

Four Stories for Four Seasons by Tomie dePaola

Fancy Nancy Halloween or Bust! by Jane O'Connor

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

*Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

All About Owls by Jim Arnosky

*Bear Feels Scared by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman

The Spookiest Halloween Ever! by Teddy Slater

*Piggie Pie by Margie Palatini

*Sheep Trick or Treat by Nancy Shaw

*The Little Scarecrow Boy by Margaret Wise Brown

I Like Pumpkins by Jerry Smith

Five Little Pumpkins by Dan Yaccarino

The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis

The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano

It's Halloween by Jack Prelutsky

*Frank was a Monster who Wanted to Dance by Keith Graves

The Littlest Pumpkin by R.A. Herman

Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler

2x2=Boo! A Set of Spooky Multiplication Stories by Loreen Leedy

Bats by Gail Gibbons

Jeepers Creepers: A Monstrous ABC by Laura Leuck

*Zoom Broom by Margie Palatini

*The Berenstain Bears and the Prize Pumpkin by Stan and Jan Berenstain

*Arthur's Halloween by Marc Brown

Our favorites have an asterisk next to them.  I guess I like Halloween a little more than I thought.  One thing I did decide as I was looking through my books, there are a lot of books that you can use as Halloween books that are not necessarily Halloween themed.  For example, Where the Wild Things Are or Owl Moon or any non-fiction animal books that might qualify as creepy, like bats, frogs or lizards.  I think my kids will be excited tomorrow to see all the Halloween books in one place.