PART TWO: Personal Halloween book recommendations for young readers (adventures in literature from mom and prior-teacher life!)

1. A Spooky Night (Marion Kyff Dodd)

This book was an incredible find by my husband many years ago in a Mystic, CT bookstore that does a beautiful job of highlighting local authors. And let me tell you that from the first fiercely vivid illustration, you and your young reader will be hooked.

The story follows a pair of siblings who follow their dog out into a spooky, autumn night. Through Dodd's glorious pictures and rich language, readers will be completely immersed in that New England fall feel.

Something additionally special here? With each new 'spooky' sighting by Marley the dog (i.e. bubbly cauldron, spiders, ghosts), Dodd cleverly weaves in a non-fiction element for readers to learns about.

This unique story is not always the easiest to find -- but that's a fun job for a reader on a mission!

2. Arthur’s Halloween (Marc Brown)

If my Part One video led you here, you'll know by now that we ADORE Marc Brown in this house. The character of Arthur was created before I was born, and Brown's book were a staple in my elementary classrooms as a child. The impression that Brown's stories still have over forty years later (which also now include 'beginner' chapter books, beloved in the Hannon house when Owen was in first grade) tells you that the character of Arthur, in all his forms, makes a difference.

Enjoy Arthur's Halloween as your reader explores sibling relationships, knowing it's more than okay to balance fear and excitement when trick-or-treating -- and a valuable lesson in never judging a book (or person!) by its cover.

3. Hallo-Wiener (Dav Pilkey)

Call this book the origin story of Dav Pilkey -- the origin author story, that is!

The puns run rampant in this hilarious and heartwarming story of Oscar (as in Oscar Mayer, of course) who is trying to navigate his mother's overwhelming love ("my little Vienna sausage!"), neighborhood bullies and more on Halloween.

Owen and I laugh reading this every year, as if its our first time! Young readers and their grown ups will not only root for Oscar's character, but will also find momentous joy in discovering Pilkey's purposeful illustrations, deciphering what a pun or 'play on words' is AND be satisfied with the themes of friendship and bravery.

4. Haunted House, Haunted Mouse (Judy Cox)

This sweet tale follows our main character, Mouse, out of his self-proclaimed 'hidey hole' as he takes an adventure om Halloween night -- starting inside a young trick or treater's candy bag!

In my family, we know Mouse well from a beloved Thanksgiving story we pour over every November without fail. Cox's Mouse storylines are accompanied with SUCH unique, vivid and wildly detailed illustrations, that Owen and I often spent more time challenging each other to find picture details (think: what you do in Highlight magazines!) than it took us to read all the words!

Oh you will love this one.

5. Horrible Harry at Halloween (Suzy Kline)

If you and your young reader haven't yet met the infamous Harry Spooger, then you're surely missing out! The Horrible Harry series made its way into our lives during the bridge between kindergarten and first grade and our devotion to Harry and his pals was so unmatched, we read nothing else until we reached the end of the 37 book series! I will also tell you that Owen and I both cried after the final book, simply for the fact that we wouldn't be privy to Harry's world anymore.

Although the books are technically ordered, one thing I love about this type of series is that it isn't necessary to read them in order; Harry's best friend Doug falls into the role of the narrator, and always gives a very brief 'recap' on important characters/ events. That's what makes Horrible Harry at Halloween an excellent seasonal book to reach for: your reader may love celebrating Halloween with Harry so much, he/ she will want to see what other rascally adventures he gets into!

Harry is infamous for his Halloween costumes -- in fact, Harry's first book (Horrible Harry in Room 2B) has him late to class due to his devotion to his snake costume that year. Imagine not slithering into school from the playground?! And so, Horrible Harry at Halloween follows the fun by offering EXCEPTIONAL shared reading opportunities for a blossoming independent reader, Halloween classroom fun/ rivalry and a plot line that involves Harry's costume needing to jump into action to solve a little 'mystery'.

6. How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow? (Wendell Minor)

This book was a staple in a specialty elementary literacy class I taught, following a big pumpkin across a variety of painted landmarks. The true treat here, though, is that on each page, in each new locale -- the author doesn't define the pumpkin as 'big'. Rather, he celebrates language and adjectives by introducing young readers to words such as 'stupendous'

As a teacher, my students engaged in imaginative sentence writing with synonyms of 'big', used some of the author's adjectives to create mini pumpkin tales and explored 'big' in measurement!

7. Lulu Goes to Witch School (Jane O’Connor)

This is a fun little story that is PERFECT for the reader who wants to feel proud as they are beginning to be independent outside of sight words and repetitive text.

Here, we follow Lulu to witch school as she navigates her confidence in trying new things for the first time, being bitten by the green eyed monster and, finally, friendship. Your reader will get a kick out of seeing the differences between Lulu's classroom and theirs, loving how the teacher's name is 'Miss Slime' and peeking at Lulu's home life (spiderwebs and all!)

8. The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything (Linda White)

If you look up classic children's literature in the dictionary, it wouldn't surprise me if you found the cover of this beloved book looking back at you. While the illustrations in this story evoke nostalgia, warmth and all-things-good, the catchy storytelling is sure to pull in audience members (your young readers!)

The inviting literacy elements invite opportunity to bring in your everyday household props (i.e. a shirt, a pair of gloves, pants), which truly makes this seasonal, Halloween story come to life. Additionally, the element of movement is not just exciting for kids, but just one more way The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything gets a reader's senses excited!

9. Too Many Pumpkins (Linda White)

Linda White makes repeat appearances in this house every Fall and Halloween!

In Too Many Pumpkins, we meet Rebecca Estelle, a character who lives a solitary life with her cat, Esmerelda. We learn from the first page that she HATES pumpkins -- but for an understandable reason. As a child, her family was very poor and pumpkins were an affordable option for food; safe to say, as a grown woman, she never wants to eat them again.

I have to take a quick moment here to highlight what a rich conversation this first page can generate: Can we, as readers, understand why Rebecca Estelle feels this way about pumpkins? Do we think is just sick of the taste from her childhood all those years ago? Could the author be alluding to another reason why Rebecca Estelle feels this strongly about pumpkins?

Through stunning, intricate illustrations, the reader adventures with Rebecca Estelle (and her feelings) as pumpkins seemingly take over her life. In one of the best examples of the phrase 'make lemons out of lemonade', readers will see how Rebecca Estelle not only makes peace with pumpkins -- but also finds peace in the community around her.

10. Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet (Diane de Groat)

Diane de Groat excels at creating stories (i.e. Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink) that are funny for kids but also teach a meaningful lesson in how to treat others. This one is no different!

Gilbert is not always patient with his little sister Lola and this may-or-may-not come back to get him in this funny, sweet and kids-at-Halloween-nostalgia filled book. Gilbert is such a fantastic example of a character who does not always do the right thing, whether that is out of impulse, frustration or just silly choices; but always learns a lesson on how to fix the issue and be a better friend/ classmate/ brother. You won't be able to help wanting to jump into the pages of this book to join Gilbert's Halloween school parade, either!

(P.S. We were very lucky to have been introduced to all things de Groat by Owen's first grade teacher, who based many classroom lessons on Gilbert's adventures!)

11. Where’s My Mummy? (Carolyn Crimi)

Hide and Shriek is the name of the game in this tale of play on words and 'spooky' (but actually quite silly) Halloween-esque characters, such as Dracula and skeletons.

The writing and choice of language is so perfect for this tale, with the author using SO many movement words (and fun examples of onomatopoeias, such as 'glug' and 'glop') and non-sensical words (i.e. the bat's wings go 'whap, whap'). Both silly examples of writing makes Where's My Mummy? another Halloween book opportunity for the audience to get involved!

When I was teaching with this particular tale, I hit the jackpot on Etsy with finger puppets that matched the characters in this book; my students loved using them to re-tell Where's My Mummy? in their own words and engage in some story sequence activities.