Spooktacular Halloween Books for Kids

Check out these great Halloween reads for kids of all ages!

Is your favourite part of camping telling spooky stories by the bonfire? Have you ever felt wicked trying to scare your kids and hubby? The Halloween spirit is in full force now, and we can’t get enough pumpkin-spiced everything to celebrate the arrival of Autumn! We’ve gathered here a reading list to get everyone pumped up for trick-or-treating fun this scary season. Grab your flashlights and build the pillow fort, because you’ll be settling in for a night of fantastic tales!

Reading for Younger Children

Room on the Broom

For younger kids who may not need any spooky vibes yet, we have a fun story of friendship and adventure, featuring a witch and her familiar. This will be a great bedtime story for kids who want to drift off to dreams of riding brooms into the night sky.

Go Away, Big Green Monster!

Maybe a monster lives under the bed, or the closet door is a bit squeaky in your child’s bedroom, but we don’t have to let the monsters win every time! This book helps children defeat their night time terrors as they flip through a colourful picture book to make the monster disappear.

Click, Clack, Boo!

This delightful addition to the children’s series of Click, Clack, Moo, has all the animals dress up and attend a barn party for Halloween. They dress up in costume and go looking for tricks, scaring Farmer Brown, who dislikes Halloween a lot. Although this book is a little harder to find, there is a Nook Book version and it’s also available for download from Audible to hear the animals come to life. 

Ready to Jump Into Chapter Books

Classic Goosebumps #1: Night of the Living Dummy

Perhaps your child is ready for a bit of a fright. Goosebumps is a classic children’s series that introduces horror in a basic chapter book format. If your child likes to get inspired through some thrilling reading, this horror series will keep them occupied through the entire season.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

If your child liked fairy tales and folklore as bedtime reading before, this book of supernatural and horror stories will be a great Halloween read. Chilling tales and spooky folklore will keep your children pulling their feet away from the edge of the bed, especially when you turn off the lights. There are three books in this series, and the original print includes beautiful and haunting illustrations to spike your imagination.

Horror Classics

18 Best Stories by Edgar Allan Poe

Poe is a classic horror author and his short stories never fail to bring a chill into the room. For older advanced readers, this collection features some of his best, including The Pit and The Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Masque of the Red Death. Share these classics with your children, and you’ll both enjoy Poe’s timeless literature.

Call of the Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories

Maybe your child doesn’t fear witches and ghosts because they’re a fearless explorer of the dark. If ordinary ghost stories don’t scare them, then a healthy dose of weird fiction will bring them home earlier from their night out trick-or-treating. H. P. Lovecraft is a master in creating terror and suspense. Reading this as a family activity in the living room will inevitably spook everyone when your family pet bumps into you at night or when you hear any unfamiliar sound coming from outside your window.