Despite it being the very end of October, I refuse to let the spooky season go just yet. While most spine-tingling reads aren’t appropriate for our littlest readers, that shouldn’t mean that they miss out on the fun! Here are some not-so-scary picture books that will have kids appreciating the things that go bump in the night!
Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds
Jasper Rabbit loves carrots–especially Crackenhopper Field carrots.
He eats them on the way to school.
He eats them going to Little League.
He eats them walking home.
Until the day the carrots start following him…or are they?
Laszlo is afraid of the dark.
The dark lives in the same house as Laszlo. Mostly, though, the dark stays in the basement and doesn’t come into Lazslo’s room. But one night, it does.
This is the story of how Laszlo stops being afraid of the dark.
Substitute Creacher by Chris Gall
The troublemaking students of Ms. Jenkins’ class arrive at school one day to discover a substitute creacher has come to put a stop to their monkey business! He regales them with mind-boggling stories about his former students who didn’t follow the rules: Keith the glue-eater, Zach the daydreamer, and Hank the prankster, to name a few. But even this multi-tentacled, yellow-spotted, one-eyed monster’s cautionary tales about the consequences of mischief-making can’t seem to change the students’ wicked ways until he reveals the spookiest and most surprising story of all: his own.
The Scariest Book Ever by Bob Shea
Reader beware! This is the scariest book ever! Or so claims its melodramatic ghost narrator. Go ahead and turn the page, but don’t expect him to come with you. Anything might pop out of that black hole in the middle of the forest! What do you mean, it’s just a bunny? Well, it’s probably a bunny with big fangs! Despite the ghost’s fear-mongering, none of the animal characters seem very scary at all…. What’s up with that?
House has a problem.
She’s a little spooky. She’s a little cobwebby. Oh, no! What if she’s haunted?
She’s not sure, but…her hinges creak. Her pipes bang. And on windy days, the branches scritch-scratch at her windows. She tries to hold her breath and be as still as possible. If she’s on her best behavior, maybe a family will move in.
How will House ever find a family that doesn’t mind being haunted?
Zombies Don’t Eat Veggies! by Megan and Jorge Lacera
Mo Romero is a zombie who loves nothing more than growing, cooking, and eating vegetables. Tomatoes? Tantalizing. Peppers? Pure perfection! The problem? Mo’s parents insist that their niño eat only zombie cuisine, like arm-panadas and finger foods. They tell Mo over and over that zombies don’t eat veggies. But Mo can’t imagine a lifetime of just eating zombie food and giving up his veggies. As he questions his own zombie identity, Mo tries his best to convince his parents to give peas a chance.
I Will Read To You by Gideon Sterer
Once upon a time, there was a boy who loved stories–scary ones about skeletons and witches, giants and ghosts, vampires, dragons, mummies and goblins. But he wondered…do monsters have anyone to read to them? Armed with only a book and a flashlight (and with his bemused mother in tow), he travels through the night, calling together every monster he can think of to make sure they get the bedtime story they need.