Halloween Chapter Books for Kids

October 4, 2012
Halloween Chapter Books

Don’t limit your Halloween themed reading to Picture Books. (But do read the books on our list of Halloween Books about Self-Esteem?) Here is a short list of Halloween-themed chapter books for kids at a variety of different reading levels that you and your kids can read together this month.

The Witch Family. Eleanor Estes (an author with multiple Caldecott honors to her name) penned this book about two seven year girls who create an elaborate story about an imaginary “Old Witch.” They decide that Old Witch needs to start mending her wicked ways or else there will be no Halloween. The blurred boundary between reality and make-believe worlds is just what every child hopes for. Ages 8 and up.

Jenny’s Moonlight Adventure. Jenny and her urban feline friends gather together on Halloween to hear a performance from nose-flutist Madame Butterfly. But, oh no! The nose flute has gone missing. Ages 6 and up.

The Best Halloween Ever. The chaos-creating band of kids from the classic, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, bring just as much mayhem to Halloween as they did to Christmas. Ages 7 and up.
Invisible Inkling: Dangerous Pumpkins. I adore this new series by favorite author Emily Jenkins (set in Brooklyn, of course!). This is the second book about fourth grader Hank Wolowitz whose invisible pet loves Halloween and decides to take charge of the holiday. Quirky, kooky and all kinds of fun. Ages 7 and up.
Mercy Watson: Princess in Disguise. Porcine wonder Mercy Watson is a seriously crazy pig and of course Halloween with her will be both disastrous and hilarious. Ages 3-7.
The Graveyard Book. This is a wonderful, beautifully written book about a boy being raised by ghosts who are protecting him from his parents’ killers. Bittersweet and magical. The reading level is solidly middle grade: ages 10 and up.
Princess Posey and the Monster Stew. There are a number of early chapter book series that have Halloween editions. This Princess Posey edition is the latest. I found it surprisingly charming and it thoughtfully addressed anxieties over the Halloween scare factor. Ages 4-7.

Other series chapter books which have Halloween editions include: Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo, Ready, Freddy!, Magic Tree House, Stink, Nate the Great (I liked this one a lot for beginning readers), Horrible Harry, My Weird School, The Boxcar Children, Rainbow Magic (!) and of course the entire Goosebumps series.

So, will you and your kids be reading Halloween chapter books or will you stick to picture books this year?

by: Erica MomandKiddo posted in: Books, Holiday Fun 4 Comments
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Comments

  1. Jennifer says:
    October 4, 2012 at 10:00 am

    I forgot about Neil Gaiman. My 11-year old is not much of a reader, but he does better when I “assign” things for him to complete.

    Reply
  2. Raising a Happy Child says:
    October 4, 2012 at 3:51 pm

    Great collection. I think my husband read The Graveyard book recently. We have two German chapter books – The Little Witch and The Little Ghost. They are translated to English in Germany and don't seem to be available on Amazon.

    Reply
  3. PragmaticMom says:
    October 11, 2012 at 12:48 pm

    Great list! Thanks for coming to my blog (I have a post on same topic but with different books). I am sharing your link so readers will have lots of books to choose from!

    Reply

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