My Favorite Halloween Read-Alouds

Leaves are changing, I've worn a sweater to work for the last 10 consecutive days, and I'm disappointed by my football team - it must be almost time for Halloween!

In honor of Halloween, my favorite picture book read-alouds for this time of year:

Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds
I read this to my first graders as we introduce parts of a book - they are so excited to recognize the Caldecott Honor seal on the cover! And they LOVE how creepy and sinister the carrots are. Jasper Rabbit has been stealing carrots from Crackenhopper Field for too long - the carrots get their revenge by creeping up on him and causing him to panic and fall right into their trap. My favorite part is the illustrations - no wonder this book has a Caldecott honor! The black-and-white with splashes of orange to highlight the carrots are genius.





Hallo Weiner by Dav Pilkey
Another favorite with my first graders as we introduce fiction by asking the question: How do you KNOW this book is fiction? Kids quickly point to the dogs on the cover who are laughing and pointing, but there are examples all throughout this book: Oscar is "half a dog tall and one-and-a-half dogs long," so he gets made fun of by all the other dogs. Of course, his size later turns out to be an advantage when he can see something none of the other dogs can see, and he becomes "Hero Sandwich" instead of "Weiner Dog." It's also just a great silly story with a strong message of inclusion and kindness...and the fact that it's by the same author as Dog Man and Captain Underpants sure doesn't hurt!!



Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
This rhythmic, rhyming tale of a witch who welcomes more and more animals onto her broom is predictable, steady, and fun, and it's also the basis of one of my favorite Storybook STEM projects with my fourth graders. Kindergarteners love that they can guess what's going to happen next as a dog, cat, bird, and frog join the crew!





Stumpkin by Lucy Ruth Cummins
Who would want a stemless pumpkin as their jack-o-lantern? Nobody who comes by Stumpkin's shop! Poor stemless Stumpkin is a big, round, orange, beautiful pumpkin with only one flaw: he has no stem. Kindergarteners are aghast when it seems like it's lights-out for Stumpkin, and are thrilled to see the shapes of his jack-o-lantern face showing up. I love this book because of the illustrations - like the orange splashes of color in "Creepy Carrots", Stumpkin and his other pumpkin friends (including a gourd!) are the only orange splashes of color in an otherwise gray and black spread.





Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White
This is a pretty lengthy read-aloud, but I like to use it with kindergarten to talk about the importance of the illustrator's role. We alternate between reading the words on a page, and skipping the words and "reading" the illustrations instead. Megan Lloyd's illustrations make it easy for kindergarteners to interpret the story: Estella Louise HATES pumpkins. So, when a stray pumpkin drops from a pumpkin truck and SPLATS on her garden, she tries to ignore it - but of course, the pumpkin grows and grows and grows until she has pumpkins coming out of her ears. As a bonus, there's a science component: We predicted what would happen when we saw pumpkin seeds all over her garden!

What are your favorite Halloween reads?