Best Kids Books for Halloween – A Round Up
Books We Love For Halloween
Short, chunky, and sweet, describes this Halloween board book designed for the youngest audience. Wickle Woo Has a Halloween Party, written by Nosy Crow with illustrations by Jannie Ho (Nosy Crow 201; $7.99, Ages 0-3
) cleverly incorporates a game of peek-a-boo with a holiday theme. Sturdy tabs are easy for chubby little hands to pull out and reveal various animals in their Halloween costumes, then push back in again.
Wickle Woo, an owl in a wizard’s hat and robe, is having a Halloween party. He can hear his friends, but their costumes are so good, that he has trouble recognizing them. Ho has an interesting cast of characters, dressed in adorable child-friendly outfits. Bear is masquerading as a flower, lion is a pirate, and monkey is disguised as an astronaut, to name a few. There are pumpkins and spiders and bats and witches, but Ho keeps them cute, not creepy.
This is a perfect treat for those who are too young for too many sweets!
It’s time to break out the glitter pens, colored pencils, tin foil, and any other art supplies you might have. Just in time for Halloween, Marnie Edwards (author) and Leigh Hodgkinson (illustrator), along with the help of the reader, have cast a magic spell with their anti-coloring/activity book. Magical Mix-Ups, Spells and Surprises (Nosy Crow 2014; $6.99, Ages 7 and up), has an enchanting story line as well.
Princess Sapphire and Emerald the Witch are best friends. They live in Mixtopia, where things are, well, mixed up, and they attend St. Aubergine’s School. They make a new friend, Violet, who has trouble controlling her broom and has trouble learning to fly. Emerald has troubles of her own. She’s a witch who isn’t very good at casting spells. The girls are preparing for the Halloween Festival and decide to help each other out. There are tiaras and tutus, dancing and candy, magic and friendship and all the things girls love at this age in this well-crafted book.
Oh, Nosy Crow, I love you so! Hmmm, maybe I’ll use that when I help Emerald with her rhyming spell assignment.
– Reviews by MaryAnne Locher
Other terror-ific & recommended great books for Halloween time are:
Shivery Shades of Halloween: A Spooky Book of Colors by Mary McKenna Siddals with illustrations by Jimmy Pickering from Random House Books for Young Readers ($12.99, Ages 3-7)
Backwards Moon (watch for our review next week) by Mary Losure from Holiday House ($16.95, Ages 7-10)
Charlie Bumpers vs. The Squeaking Skull by Bill Harley with illustrations by Adam Gustavson from Peachtree Publishers ($13.95, Ages 7-10)
Scream Street: Terror of the Nightwatchman written and illustrated by Tommy Donbavand from Candlewick Press ($5.99, Ages 8-12)
The Gloomy Ghost by David Lubar from Starscape/Tor Teen ($15.99, Ages 8-12)
The Shadow Lantern by Teresa Flavin from Templar Books ($15.99, Ages 9-12)