This is the Pumpkin, and Even More Halloween Books

This is the Pumpkin by Abby Levine is a new favorite Halloween book! 

Told in verse, the story of Max's Happy Halloween Day unfolds as he dresses in his scary green costume, goes to a party at school, carves pumpkins at home, and finally gets to walk around the neighborhood saying "Trick or Treat" and collecting candy.

What makes it great for a read aloud is that every couple of pages, it repeats lines and adds to it.***  What makes it a great lap book is that a new reader can start each set of lines by reading, "This is...."

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat by Lucille Colandro is one of them!

My son loves this series. We read all the books, buy them when we see them, and even watch them on video. 

***Books written in similar style with choral rhyme include

The House that George Built

There Was an Old Lady series

Bear Stays Up for Christmas

Good Night Goon  by Michael Rex 

is pretty awesome if you like the book it parodies, Good Night Moon. It's got claws and jaws and hats and bats! You can watch it on video, but your child may want a copy of their own. We read it year round, and my son is a scaredy cat who still loves it!

Trick-or-Treat, Smell My Feet! by Lisa Desimini

What a surprise we had when we saw this book included twin sisters Delia and Ophelia! The two sneaky sisters perform a spell with the help of stolen stinky socks, and the neighborhood kids are denied their precious trick-or-treat candy when all they can say is, "Smell my feet!" Read the book yourself or watch the read aloud video to see if Halloween is saved!

Trick-or-Treat on Milton Street by Lisa Bullard

This story has a heartwarming ending! Charley's mom is sick on Halloween, so he has to spend his first Halloween in his new house in an unfamiliar neighborhood with his embarrassing stepdad. He wishes he had friends nearby to trick-or-treat with because he imagines the old people in his neighborhood wanting to carve green peppers, losing their dentures while bobbing for apples, and giving out vegetables as treats. Charley notices some familiar voices in the costumed adults he visits, and ends up with a nice surprise at the end. His only question is why Dave didn't dress up, aside from his goofy hat. His response? "It's the same one my dad wore when he took me out to trick-or-treat on Milton Street. I thought the best costume I could wear tonight was to dress up like a dad." <3

Pete the Cat: Trick-or-Pete by James Dean

We own the paperback version of this book and love it, but the board book one with flaps to lift is even more fun! We are big fans of Pete the Cat in our house, and we even have a daughter named Callie. She loves hearing her name in stories, so she loved this one. Our son Austin is a big Halloween fan, but also a bit nervous about the scary side of it. This book helps him remember that there are people wearing the costumes, and usually it's someone he knows! Here is is in read-aloud form.

Check out more Halloween posts here.