Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween Picture Books

Just a couple of my faves for this spooky day:

Ghosts in the House by Kazuno Kohara
Roaring Brook Press

A girl and her cat go to live in the house on the edge of town that turns out to be...haunted! But the girl doesn't mind, because she's actually a witch and she knows how to make ghosts useful. A clever story with really fun three tone illustrations.





Thirteen O'Clock by James Stimson
Chronicle Books

A different girl lives in a house where the clock strikes 13. And when it does, all sorts of strange creatures creep out the woodwork and head up the stairs to where the girl waits hidden... but it's the creatures who get the scare in this whimsically illustrated tale of a "perky prankster in pajamas".



Only a Witch Can Fly by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo
Feiwel & Friends

Yet another girl longs to fly, especially when the moon shines on her through her window. It's a inspiring tale of a girl who tries and tries, failing often, but never gives up on her dream. Written as a sestina, an old form of poetry from the 12th century, the rhythms seem strange at first, but draw you in slowly and firmly, the words entrancing you with their bold imagery.

Hope you are having a happy halloween! What are some of your favorite halloween themed picture books?

18 comments:

Andi said...

These sound wonderful! I love the cover illustration for Thirteen O'Clock. So cute! I need to review a couple of picture books today myself.

Ellz said...

These all look adorable. We love reading picture books.

Heather Zundel said...

Ooh, these are so cute! I want them all. Picture books are a big-time secret love of mine.

A Bookshelf Monstrosity said...

Love this post! I've been featuring Halloween books on display at the library this past month and all of these were on the display shelf at one point (and then promptly checked out!)

Jen said...

How fun! I always loved The Witch of Hissing Hill by Mary Calhoun, and Gus the Friendly Ghost when I was a kid. Lucky for me, I've got my old books -- reading your post made me dig them out! :)

Kristen M. said...

I was looking at Thirteen O'Clock for this year but didn't get around to it. Oh well! More fun for next year!

Marie Cloutier said...

What a great feature for Halloween. Hope you're having fun today! :-)

Kailana said...

Happy Halloween! All those books look great. :)

Tasha said...

2 of my favorites are Room on the Broom and The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. But NOT The Witch's Child - that book terrifies me.

Alissa Grosso said...

Growing up I always loved Space Case by James Marshall.

For storytimes I love The Hallo-wiener by Dav Pilkey.

Suzanne Yester said...

Thanks for sharing these cute books! I'll be checking them out myself!

lex luther said...

very nice pictures it`s like a little horror comedy :)

Aarti said...

These are so pretty! I need to find a kid to read aloud with, ASAP :-)

Staci said...

I really need to pay more attention to picture books but with my youngest being 14 I really don't visit that part of the library/bookstore. Thanks for highlighting these!!

coffeechug said...

I've given you an award. It will be posted on Friday, November 6th

http://coffeeforthebrain.blogspot.com

Aaron @ Coffee For The Brain

Alice said...

All three sounds wonderful and I particularly like the first one. I love picture books!

Joanne ♦ The Book Zombie said...

Ohh Thirteen O'Clock looks like such fun! Every October I get this weird desire to start collecting Halloween picture books :)

Anonymous said...

I'm already making my list for next October.