Posts Tagged ‘halloween books for kids’

“Will you walk into my parlor? said the spider to the fly….”

So begins the old and familiar poem by Mary Howitt.  But one look at The Spider and the Fly and you’ll know, there is nothing ordinary about it.

The illustrations by Mr. DiTerlizzi are nothing short of remarkable.  The story reads like a classic silent film, Ms. Fly is a 1920’s heroine, so lovely and ultimately doomed.  The spider is a dapper, silver-tongued villain, who is, oh, so cunning.

But what about the actual poem… aren’t the kids turned off by a morality tale written in 1820’s?  Not my kids!  It’s a story they’ve asked to hear again and again during the spooky month of October.  The language, while antiquated, is lyrical and more easily understood than I expected.

A note of caution: If you have very young, or easily frightened children, this storybook may not be for you.  For although it is never gory or graphic, the spider does get Ms. Fly in the end.  And speaking of the end:  You’ll love the postscript by the spider (added by Mr. DiTerlizzi).

While the Spider and the Fly isn’t a Halloween book, there is no better time of year to read this wonderful book.

For a true Halloween choice, how about Big Pumpkin?

It’s a clever Halloween tale, that goes to show that many hands make light work.  My kids love when I read it in voices, the cackling witch, the Transilvanian vampire, the monotone mummy…  This book is short and sweet and always makes my kids want to eat pumpkin pie.

To check out a few more of our Halloween Storybook favorites, be sure to go back and read my post from last year.  We still can’t get enough of Adam Rex’s Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, which is so funny, you’ll all be in stitches…  oops, no pun intended!

I’ve now got my eye on the sequel Frankenstein Takes the Cake which looks every bit as rib splitting.

Happy Haunted Reading!

I’d love to hear your favorite scariest books…. even for adults, I’ve had half a mind to break out Poe or something similarly spooky this Halloween season.

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?