Scary Stories to Read in the Dark

I love Halloween books to read aloud.  OK… so my favorites aren’t a bit scary… just funny and even inspirational.

Take the poetry book Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex for instance.  Turns out, Frankenstein is a “Make it Do” kind of guy.  When he goes to his cupboard to make lunch he discovers he’s all out of food.  So he heads on down the street to borrow a little something from the neighbors.  When they see him coming… well let’s just say they aren’t feeling too friendly.  They grab their torches and start throwing rotten food at him.  At first he thinks his neighbors are so rude.  But then he saw that at his feet they’d made a mound of food.  So Frankenstein heads home happy with his loot… and sits down to a big, disgusting lunch.

This book makes me laugh as much as the kids… and sometimes more.  I love the poem about the Phantom of the Opera who can’t get “It’s a Small World” out of his head.  Or the one about Dracula, who has spinach in his teeth… and everyone’s afraid to tell him.  This book is a quirky, delightful read aloud… and the illustrations are almost better than the poems.

Another Halloween favorite is Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson.  “The witch had a cat and a hat that was black, and long ginger hair in a braid down her back.”  I didn’t even have to open the book to quote that, I’ve read it so many times I’ve almost got it memorized.

This is one of those books I can read over and over and never get tired of reading it… and that is saying something. It is about a witch who generously lets other animals join her for a ride on her broom, until there is one too many…

The rhyming text is so delightful and clever that has been a family favorite for 5 years.  And the illustrations are bright and wonderful.

And last but not least, is the sweet book, The Hallo-wiener by Dav Pilkey. The main character, Oscar is so endearing,  I just love this book.  It’s a about a poor dachshund who gets teased constantly of by all the other dogs… they love to call him “Weiner Dog” and other names.

When Halloween rolls around, Oscar can’t wait to don a scary costume and escape his troubles for while.  But his mother surprises him with a hot dog costume, and Oscar is crestfallen. Oscar is such a sweet little dog, however, he doesn’t let his mom know how disappointed he is, and he wears the costume without complaint.  When the other dogs from school see him, they all get a big laugh at poor Oscar’s expense.

But they aren’t laughing when Oscar becomes the unlikely hero of the story and saves them and the day.

Those are just a few of our favorites for Halloween.  I look forward to reading them every year.  What are your favorite Halloween books?