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Boo-licious
Books for Halloween Fun
By Holly E. Newton
Halloween is just around the corner,
and here are some fun and not-too-spooky picture books for your
youngsters.
You Read to Me, I’ll
Read to You: Very Short Scary Tales to Read Together,
by Mary Ann Hoberman, is a terrific way to read an amusing and entertaining
book full of stories. What makes these stories unique is that they
need to be read aloud, and with more than one reader. Hoberman has
cleverly color-coded
each story so that the reader knows each rhyming tale that is to
be read.
For instance, “Trick or Treat” has
one reader in blue, the answering reader in pink. When you see yellow
text that means readers read together. “Trick or treat!”
(blue) “Trick or treat!” (pink) “Wonder what they’ll
have to eat!” (yellow) The fun illustrations, by Michael Emberly,
tell each tale in expert fashion. Your little ones will need to
be able to read at a second grade level or above to participate,
but what fun they’ll have!
Aunt Nancy and the Bothersome
Visitors, by Phyllis Root, is compiled of four very
short stories that are great fun to read aloud. The humorous country
dialogue and clever schemes are found throughout as Aunt Nancy continually
devises ways to rid herself of unwanted and uninvited houseguests.
In “Aunt Nancy and Old Man Trouble,” you immediately
get his picture in your mind even without the wonderful illustrations
of what he looks like — “dressed in a long black coat,
all black hat and shiny black shoes. He was swinging a silver-headed
walking stick, and his pointy white teeth gleamed in his pointy
black beard.”
The full-page illustrations, by David Parkins,
introduce each story with a comedic flair and prepare the reader
for the aunt’s antics. The black and white silhouettes sprinkled
throughout help to move each
[very short] story along. If you’re looking for abook that’s
clever and with comic relief, look no further!
Click to Buy
 Skelly
the Skeleton Girl, written and illustrated by Jimmy
Pickering, is a not-so-scary picture book about
a young skeleton who comes upon a bone. Who could it belong to?
She begins her search and asks her pet skeleton fish, the ghosts
who came for a beverage and even the monster who lives under the
stairs. When she finally discovers the owner, she also discovers
a new friend. The ingenious illustrations, including the front and
back covers, make no bones about what the story is about!
I’m Not Scared!,
written and illustrated by Jonathan Allen, has Baby Owl taking his
little stuffed animal on a walk late at night, but he gets a little
spooked when other nighttime animals come out and tell him not to
be scared. He is continually telling them that he’s not scared.
Or is he? This cute story will help
bring out what makes your little one scared after dark.
Monster Hug!,
written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein, is a remarkable book
that clearly and succinctly demonstrates — with few words
— two monsters who seem to play in their monster ways until
the end, when their monster mommies tell them it’s bedtime.
This is an ingenious book with both the text and illustrations!
Don’t forget to check out the inside front and back pages.
Click to Buy
 The
next three books are geared for new readers. Scaredy-Pants!:
A Halloween Story (level 1), by Joan Holub, and illustrated
by Will Terry, has the ants in Ant Hill visiting the spooky fun
house. The Monster in the Backpack (level
3), by Lisa Moser, and illustrated by Noah Z. Jones, has a monster
in her backpack. Now what will she do? Bunnicula and
Friends: Rabbit-cadabra! (level 3), by James Howe,
and illustrated by Jeff Mack, has the magician pulling a rabbit
out of a hat. Suppose it’s a vampire rabbit?
These last books are very short and
are geared for toddler through age 5. Pepper picks a Pumpkin,
written and illustrated by Linda Bleck, has all of the elements
that youngsters love in interactive books — pop-outs, pull
tags and lift the flaps. Here is a cute story about Lily and her
puppy, Pepper, who pick their pumpkin for Halloween.
And, while we’re on lift-the-flap
books, The Haunted Schoolhouse, by Jacklyn
Williams, and wonderfully illustrated by Doug Cushma, is full of
them! Here is a school full of mischief that seems to be what the
ghoulish class expects. The rhyming text has the students doing
“our best to get a good grade on….” (lift the
flap and see the teacher holding something that looks quite dour)
“..the week’s smelling test.”
Click to Buy
 Two
Little Witches: A Halloween Counting Story, by Harriet
Ziefert, and brightly illustrated by Simms Taback, is the perfect
depiction of this fun holiday through the eyes of a child. One little
witch goes trick-or-treating with another and that makes 2 little
witches. Then those 2 little witches meet one clown and that makes
3 — and so on. There are even colorful Halloween stickers
included.
Click to Buy
 Boo!
Made You Jump!, written and illustrated by Lauren
Child, is a simple story about how Lola can make her big brother
scared. The text is easy for kids to relate to as there are many
things that can make them scared.
Ghost Gets Dressed!, written and illustrated
by Jane Trasler, is a great new reader story with brilliant colors
that has repetitive words to help the young reader remember the
text.
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© 2007
Meridian Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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