Picture books for Halloween and beyond

Witches

You don’t find that many scary picture books (well, not aimed at children, anyway), but you do get books that are about monsters and witches and the like, often with a comedic take.

One of our favourite picture books about witches is Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheeffler’s Room on the Broom. We enjoy that the witch looks like a traditional ugly and unpleasant person, but actually turns out to be very pleasant and generous. And, of course, it has Julia Donaldson’s classic lyrical story-telling which bounces along and is a pleasure to read out loud. There’s actually a sound book version that’s come out recently – we haven’t tried it out, but it looks like it’s probably great fun.

Another favourite series of witchy picture books, is Meg and Mog. I love the simplicity of the pictures and the stories are great fun. They were also one of the first books that RoRo seemed to want to read independently, which is a great bonus, too. Again, Meg doesn’t come across as evil (which is nice, because I don’t think witches are evil – mostly) and the stories are fun.

Ghosts

I can’t think of any classic picture books about ghosts. There must be some, surely? Do leave a comment if you can think of any!

Macmillan have just brought out this fun pop-up ghost book, though, which RoRo and LaLa both love – pop-up books are always very popular, even if I catch my breath every time they pull a tab, or turn a wheel, waiting for something to rip.

My Big book of Ghosts is a fabulous pop-up book with lovely rhyming couplets on each page. The girls love that the door on the second page actually creaks when you open it, and they love shouting ‘Boo!’ along with me when I’m reading it. It’s really fun and the twist at the end is cool. Oh, alright, I’ll tell you (never know whether or not it’s OK to write spoilers for picture books)… the narrator of the story is a mouse, and the ghosts are really scared of the mouse.

Monsters!

Monsters are great. Kids love monsters. They can be hideously gruesome and ugly, but they still seem to love them. At what point, I wonder, do they start to take on board the fear and horror and turn to the proper scary monsters?

We have a series of monster books that are particularly popular in this house and that’s the ‘Boris books’. They’re books with a built-in puppet (that you stick your hand threw) and the first two were given to us by Uncle Jonathan, while I’m fairly certain that Tia Eva gave us some, too. They are brilliant and if you have seen them before, you really need to try at least one of them!

Our favourite new monster books, though, have to be Giles Paley-Phillips’ The Fearsome Beastie and Tamara Small and the Monsters’ Ball. The Fearsome Beastie is novel in that the monster is actually bad. There’s a moment when you think he’s not and he’s going to be another fun, cuddly misinterpreted monster, but, no, he’s a proper child-eating monster. We reviewed The Fearsome Beastie a while ago. Tamara Small and the Monsters’ Ball is a new book and is lots of fun, too, though it turns it around again and, this time, you expect the monsters to be horrible and evil and they’re not – they’re just having a ball and inviting Tamara to come and have fun with them. RoRo and LaLa love both of these books.

Come back on Friday, for an interview with Giles on our writing day.

We would love to hear about any picture books you can think of to add to these – new and old. Do you have favourite Halloween books, or witchy books, or ghoulish children’s tales, or scary monster tomes?