What better time to curl up with a good book than the cozy (and spooky) days of fall? Check out our favorite children's books about everything from apples, pumpkins, and autumn leaves to ghosts, goblins, and some not-too-scary Halloween friends for your young bookworm.
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Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down by Jeff Kinney
Recommended age: 8 to 12
With Halloween around the corner, Greg Heffley decides to explore his creative side and make a movie about...gummy worms. Maybe that will get his mom to get off his back about the video games!
Pete the Cat: Trick or Pete by Kimberly and James Dean
Recommended Age: 4 to 8
Pete the Cat always keeps his cool, except on Halloween. Follow Pete as he goes trick-or-treating and see what surprises await him in this peek-a-boo book.
Let the pumpkin hunt begin! Preschoolers will accompany the cute board book characters Duck and Goose on a search for the perfect pumpkin. They check inside a log, under a pile of leaves, and up an apple tree. Where do you think they'll find it? Your pumpkin-puss preschooler might have a guess!
Kids can join Leaf Man on a magical journey as gusts of wind carry him over orchards, meadows, and farms one fall day. The book's illustrations are made from actual autumn leaves, and the story is a celebration of the fall season and nature.
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson
Recommended age: 4 and up
Why do the leaves change color? Why do they fall from the trees? If your curious kid has asked you these questions, don't worry — Fletcher the fox is wondering, too. When all the leaves on his favorite tree turn brown and fall off, he tries in vain to catch and reattach them. Although Fletcher's mother explains that the cause is simply the change of seasons, he doesn't fully believe her until he sees the splendor of snowy branches in winter.
What's a witch to do on a windy night when her hat and wand blow away? She gets some generous help from some new animal friends — a cat, a parrot, and a frog — who only want one thing in return: a ride on her broom... if there's room! Together, the witch and her friends come face-to-face with a scary dragon. Never fear — the story is by the same author/illustrator team as the fun book The Gruffalo, so you can expect a silly and not-too-spooky ending.
Daniel Tiger Loves Fall by Natalie Shaw and Jason Fruchter
Recommended age: 1 to 5
Daniel Tiger and his friends are getting ready for the Fall Festival, and they can't wait! But when a strong wind blows away the decorations no one knows what to do. Daniel and his friends jump in to help make new decorations and get the fall festival back on track!
Celebrate Halloween with a catchy hip-hop beat! Told in rhyming text, Shake Dem Halloween Bones shows how the city goes from dark and quiet to festive and fun on Halloween night. L'il Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, Tom Thumb, and other fairy-tale friends attend the hip-hop Halloween ball and have some "scoo-bee-doo-bee-doo-wah" up their sleeves.
Older elementary-school readers will love this eerie and enthralling work of fiction. A group of eight boys in Halloween costumes is carried away on the tail of a kite. Accompanied by the creepy but wise Mr. Moundshroud, they take a trip through space and time to see Egypt's mummies, the Celtic lord of the dead, the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead, and other traditions that have contributed to modern-day Halloween. Through their adventure they witness a timeline of folklore and Halloween history. Black-and-white illustrations help hook readers into the tale.
Roald Dahl sure had good taste in ghost stories! The beloved children's book author read more than 700 chilling and thrilling stories in the British Museum Library before selecting the 14 that appear in this anthology. Edith Wharton, Robert Aickman, and other great authors penned the short stories, so the collection is a nice — and spine-tingling — introduction to serious literature for younger teens.
