{halloween book countdown}

One of my great loves in life is reading, along with books of all kinds. I also love Halloween--not the scary, ghoulish, gory kind, but the fun costumes, trick or treating, sugar cookies, and pumpkins on the porch kind.

To celebrate both of these, I created a Halloween Book Countdown---a really fun way to count down the 31 days to Halloween--starting with October 1st. I put together a list of some favorite Halloween books, along with some others I wanted to try, then headed to the library. (I'm working on collecting our own, but until then, the library is the perfect resource, and had all the titles I was looking for.) I found a black tub at Target in the holiday section, added some ribbon and vinyl, and our book countdown was ready!

Whether you label the books and go in order like an advent calendar, pull numbers out of a hat, or just let kids choose randomly, this can be a super fun way to enjoy the holiday together.

Here is my list of 31 books: (most of these books are targeted for ages 3-8)


1. Too Many Pumpkins, Linda White
2. Pumpkin Soup, Helen Cooper
3. The Biggest Pumpkin Ever, Steven Kroll
4. Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden, George Levenson
5. How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?, Margaret McNamara
6. Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Jeanne Titherington
7. In the Haunted House, Eve Bunting
8. Room on the Broom, Julie Donaldson
9. The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything, Linda Williams
10. The Night Before Halloween, Natasha Wing
11. The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat, Stan & Jan Berenstain
12. The Big Pumpkin, Erica Silverman
13. The Vanishing Pumpkin, Tomie dePaola
14. Humbug Witch, Lorna Balian
15. Bug That Go Bump in the Night, David A. Carter
16. Five Little Pumpkins, Iris Van Rynbach
17. Scary, Scary, Halloween, Eve Bunting
18. Peek-A-Booooo!, Marie Torres Cimarusti
19. Mrs. McMurphy’s Pumpkin, Rick Walton
20. It’s Halloween!, Jack Prelutsky
21. Thirteen Nights of Halloween, Rebecca Dickinson
22. Miss Fiona’s Stupendous Pumpkin Pies, Mark Kimball Moulton
23. Ten Timid Ghosts, Jennifer O’ Connell
24. The Bumpy Little Pumpkin, Margery Cuyler
25. Halloween Night, Arden Druce
26. Haunted Castle on Hallows’ Eve, Mary Pope Osborne
27. All Hallow’s Eve – The Story of the Halloween Fairy, Lisa S. Johnson
28. Pumpkin Hill, Elizabeth Spurr
29. Skeleton Hiccups, Margery Cuyler
30. The Ugly Pumpkin, Dave Horowitz
31. Trick or Treat Countdown, Patricia Hubbard

Have a favorite story that's not listed here? Please share!

I'm looking forward to cozy nights, snuggled up with my kids, a good book, and
just maybe a cup of hot chocolate.