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a harvest of great books
I once read a book while my kids were choosing books at Borders about a man who was going to lose his pumpkin farm if he didn’t come up with $100, 000 to pay off the mortgage. To save his farm, he mailed a letter to a hundred thousand people all over the world, telling them how wonderful pumpkins were. He told the people they cost a dollar each, and if they all sent him a dollar, he would send them each a pumpkin. Everyone followed his instructions, and he was able to save his farm. Though even more far-fetched than Field of Dreams, it planted an idea in my head that I have never given up: I want to move to the country and start my own pumpkin farm.
But I’ll talk more about that another time.
Today I want to ask you all this question:
What are your favorite children’s books for FALL and HALLOWEEN?
Let’s see how many comments we can get, so we can start a little online discussion. Won’t that be fun?
Lovely. I knew you’d all be into it!
Plus, if any of you know the name of the book I talked about up there, please let me know.
24 Responses to “a harvest of great books”
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Well, I wanted to comment on this subject, since I love books in general and children’s books in particular, but I couldn’t think of a single children’s Halloween book. I decided to check out Barnes and Noble’s website to see what they recommend and it turns out….I don’t recognize many of the titles. This is very distressing to me, especially since I used to be the supervisor of the children’s department at a Barnes and Noble. Apparently, that was about a hundred years ago, and something has happened to me in the meantime.
There was one title that I did recognize, however. Berenstein Bear’s Bears in the Dark. I love those little bears. I also saw a Corduory book. I haven’t read it, but it gets major points for haveing Corduory, my favorite since I was about 2.
If you want to talk movies, though, you can’t beat Nightmare Before Christmas.
My favorite is “Max’s Halloween” by Rosemary Wells. The Max and Ruby books are so fun to read to my kids. I love hearing them giggle about the silly things Max does.
Am I the only one who doesn’t get the whole Nightmare Before Christmas thing? I am definitely not a fan.
We love “I Know an old Lady who Swallowed a Pie” a thanksgiving pie, which was really too dry, perhaps she’ll die. . .
Okay that was Thanksgiving–sorry. We also like “The Little Old Lady who wasn’t afraid of Anything” Fun action book, and we love, love, love, “Shake Dem Halloween Bones” way fun! Makes you want to dance! “The Best/Worst Halloween Ever” is a good longer read aloud–by the same author that did “The Best/Worst Christmas Pagent Ever.”
“My Monster Mama Loves me so” is a great bedtime story, and my littlest one (3) loves “The Five Little Pumpkins” book that rolled out of sight.
Happy reading!
Jaime- Keep up the beautiful blogging.
A Few Favorites:
.The Stranger, by Chris Van Allsburg (Mysterious, Fascinating.)
.Frank Was A Monster Who Wanted to Dance, by Keith Graves (You could eat the pictures, they are so gorgeous)
.Skelly the Skeleton Girl, by Jimmy Pickering (Brings to mind the glorious Tim Burton. My kids love this one)
.Johnny Appleseed, by Reeve Lindbergh (Don’t you just wish you could have met good, old John Chapman?)
And, you didn’t ask, but isn’t one of the finest Halloween shows of all time “The Corpse Bride?” I adore that show entirely. Right up there: The Addams Family, The Rats of Nimh, And…classic Scooby Doo. Happy Haunting!
I also love just about anything seasonal when Oct hits, it gets me in the cozy, fall orange mood! Even in our reading……Fall means pumpikns but to me also means Apples! My favorite is “Apple Pie Tree” by Zoe Hall. She also wrote “It’s Pumpkin Time”. There is the “Berenstain Bears and the Prize Pumpkin”. But our current favorite is not seasonal, but FUN, “The Seven Silly Eaters” by Mary Ann Hoberman, I picked this up at our local farm stand (that also happens to have little gifts) and it cracked me up, right in the store! I bought a couple, tied a ribbon and delivered them to all my momma friends that suffer from fickle eaters.
Is it Pumpkins: A story for a field? It sounds similar.
Hey, Erin! I believe you are right!
In our home we love ‘A Plumo and Perky Turkey’ and Little Bills Extra Thankful Thanksgiving
I’m a first grade teacher and I have two favorite books to read around this time of year which aren’t scary, just fun. My favorite is “Halloweiner” about a dashund whose mom decides to buy/make him a hot dog costume for Halloween. He gets picked on by other dogs but comes back to save the day! My copy of this book is worn and well-loved! The other one I like is “The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything”. Cute book!
My favorite witch book is Piggie Pie! By Margarie Palatini.
I also love:
Inside a House That is Haunted by Alyssa Capucilli illustrated by Tedd Arnold
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams Illustrated by Megan Lloyd
A Job For Witilda by Caralyn Buehner & Mark Buehner
My Mamma Monster Loves Me So by Laura Leuck
One of my all-time favorite books is Shel Silvertein’s book called “The Giving Tree”. It’s a beautiful book about someone giving everything while the other one takes, but in the end, the one who takes from the other person still is not happy in the end and the one who continually gives without receiving anything in return is finally spent down to a stump. The book is based on a tree who gives all it has to its owner until he is a stump.
We stumbled upon “Four Scary Stories” by Tony Johnston at the library and liked it so much I bought it on Amazon to be a dedicated Halloween book to bring out whenever we bring out the other Halloween stuff. (Although of course it’s great year-round). It’s a pretty cute read. I’ve been meaning to look into “The Juniper Tree: And Other Tales from Grimm ” illustrated by Maurice Sendak, but haven’t had a chance yet. I was thinking it might also be a fitting October read.
My favorite Halloween book for children is “The Pumpkin Patch Parable” by Liz Curtis Higgs. Along with the story of how a pumpkin seed becomes a pumpkin and then a wonderful jack-o-lantern, there are scripture verses below each page so it can be used for a family devotion with younger children. This is one of a series of books: “The Sunflower Parable” – Summer; “The Christmas Tree Parable” – Winter; and “The Easter Lily Parable” – Spring. I give these books as gifts to friends and family who have a new baby in their life. The illustrations are wonderful, also… bright and cheerful. (These books are suitable for children age 2-6.)
I love “The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything” by Linda Williams- I read it to my students every year and practically have it memorized!
I looove the fall and Halloween, this time is my favorite! I also agree with Beth, and Halloweiner is a winner! I love it, and although I’m 22 and not a mom yet (hope I’m still welcome here!) I have many nieces and nephews, and they all love when I read them this book. I just discovered your site and I love it and its part of my feeds now. Also I made those smores bars you posted the other day and they were terrific! Very easy and delicious! Thank you =)
Oh, and by the way The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my all time favorites!!!
What a great treasure of books!
I have an obsession with children’s picture books! and have collected several for each holiday/season. They only come out at that season and I’m always so happy to see them.
My favorite Autumn/Halloween books are “The Little old Lady” that several people have named, but an even better book by the same lady (Linda White, is called “Too Many Pumpkins” I think that you may especially like it since you want a pumpkin patch. (A passion which I share – enough to have a degree in Horticulture!! This year my garden consisted of only pumpkins but the bugs loved them more and got all but four.) The story is about a woman that hates pumpkins but accidentally ends up with a yard full of them. This is a must have book for the season!
My second favorite book is “Barn Dance” by Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault. It’s about a farm boy that sneaks out at night and dances in the barn with the scarecrow and all the animals. It’s LOVELY! I love to read it with a southern accent and make my children laugh!
Enjoy your cool afternoons cuddled up on the couch with your little ones! It’s much more fun than doing dishes!
It looks like a lot of you like The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. We like that one, too!
Has anyone heard of Pumpkin Moonshine by Tasha Tudor? I remember it from when I was a little girl.
One of our favorite books at the preschool where I used to teach was “Big Pumpkin”. It’s fun when you read it but the best version is an audio one where the story is sung. By Thanksgiving our children can sing most of it. I also like “Pumpkin Moonshine” and “The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything”.
The Spooky Old Tree by the Berenstains
Hi, I just found your site through food gawker. I love great food and children’s literature so here I am and I thought I’d chime in on a few fun ones…Humbug Witch by Lorna Balian for Halloween, and Sometimes it’s turkey, sometimes it’s feathers for Thanksgiving,by the same author.We also love Frank was a monster who wanted to dance and The littlest pumpkin.
Here is a list of my 2nd grade class’ favorites:
Spookley the Square Pumpkin
Boo! by Robert Munsch
The Biggest Pumpkin Ever
Shake Dem Halloween Bones
Big Pumpkin (if you can get the CD/tape that goes with it I’d definitely recommend it!!)
[...] are some of the books you all listed for our harvest of great books dialogue: The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams Max’s Halloween [...]
Ray Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree. It provides a nice overview of the different Halloween traditions. I also remember watching an animated movie based on this book when I was a kid; I used to love watching it every year