Halloween Themed Books for Babies and Toddlers
This post may contain affiliate links which means I make a small commission if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you. See the disclosure policy for more information.
USING THEMED BOOKS AS A TOOL
When it comes to Holidays or big life events, I find that it’s always a perfect opportunity to use books to help introduce the ideas and concepts to children in a fun and non-threatening way. In our house, we LOVE books! We can’t get enough of them. If there is ever a question of what someone can buy for our daughter (and there’s no other necessities or anything she’s been really dying for), “BOOKS” are always the answer! We use them to support new experiences like starting school, going to the doctor or dentist, or potty training.
MAKING BOOKS MORE DISCOVERABLE
Our daughter has her primary bookshelf in her room with over 100 books, but she also has a smaller display case of books in our living room that she engages with regularly. We try and rotate out the books on this display somewhat regularly to make new and different books discoverable and to keep her engaged. By using the display case in the living room, where we spend the majority of our time, she always has the opportunity to reach for books and either read them with an adult or sit down and flip through them on her own.
She’s currently two years old and my favorite thing is when she opens the books and sits down by herself, flipping through the pages and talking away to herself, as if she’s telling the story. It’s so fun and imaginative and I love watching her brain go into this place of story-telling.
HALLOWEEN BOOK COLLECTION
Anyway! As we approach Halloween, we combed through her primary bookshelf to pull out any Halloween themed books we’ve had from prior years and moved them into the living room. I also shopped for a few new additions to the collection! As she gets older each year, we need new additions that are more tailored to her age. She still enjoys a range of book styles - from the super simple, short board books to the longer-form, more descriptive and engaging books so her collection of accessible themed books continues to grow each year.
Here are a few of the books in our collection as well as a few we’d recommend (based on positive reviews we’ve heard or seen ourselves).
BEST FOR BABIES
We personally have 2 books that are GREAT for the young ones (6 months - 1 year). That doesn’t mean we still don’t read these and play with these books til this day as a 26 month old but they’re much better for the younger babies than the longer form options.
Spooky Pookie and Boo Baa La La La are both books written by Sandra Boynton. They are short and cute and easy to love. They’re also a great deal (typically $3-$6) so buying multiples is a no brainer.
Generally speaking, we love ALL BOOKS by Sandra Boynton. They have always been books that our daughter has been drawn to. Whether it be these Halloween options or some of her other MANY books. For 2 years straight we read The Going to Bed Book before bedtime. I’ve bought it for countless friends and they’ve all loved it too!
If you want a perfect stash of multiple baby books, snag this Sandra Boynton multi-pack of her bestsellers. You can’t go wrong.
BEST FOR BABIES 1-2 YEARS
If your child is in the age range of 1-2 years then these 3 books are great options since they’re only slightly longer but still short enough to keep the details simple and engaging. These were our favorites for our daughter’s 2nd Halloween when she was just over 1 year.
The first is Llama Llama Trick or Treat. This one can really cross into the Baby Book category as well but we found our daughter to be more engaged and interested in this one when she was 1 year old. It was a good introduction to a few of the Halloween concepts like costumes, carving pumpkins and trick or treating. The Llama Llama books are part of a great series with lots of fun options, originating with Llama Llama Red Pajama, which is a great book about going to bed fears.
Probably our most favorite (and one that was read all year long) was Little Blue Truck’s Halloween. This is an adorable Halloween story about Little Blue Truck on his way to a Halloween party, driving through town and picking up his unrecognizable friends in their costumes. It’s a lift and flap book, which she loves! The Little Blue Truck books are also part of a series and are VERY cute books!
Last on this list is 5 Little Pumpkins. This is actually a book we only just added to our collection this year but it would have still been a great book when our daughter was 1. It’s a short but sweet story about 5 little pumpkins (weird).
BEST FOR 2+ YEAR OLDS
The hands down WINNER for Halloween Book in our house this year is Room on the Broom. This one definitely takes a little more stamina to get through but the fun rhymes and theme of inclusivity make this a great book for a toddler who is learning all about acceptance, sharing, empathy, and helping others. We’ve been reading it nightly in our house!
A few others I’d consider:
These are books I’d likely buy this year for a toddler that’s 2-4 years.
Grumpy Monkey Don’t be Scared - A new release and already a New York Times Best Seller
Horton Hears a Boo - A Dr. Suess story with the classic character - Horton!
Halloween Alphabet - A perfect for this age as they learn their letters. Each letter is associated with a costume!
If you haven’t yet begun building your collection of Halloween themed books, now’s the time! The great thing is, Amazon always has tons of options and offers great deals. Adding even just one new book a year is enough to create a collection they’ll treasure for years to come.
