The Perfect Pumpkin Pie

The Perfect Pumpkin Pie
by Denys Cazet
Recommended ages 3 and up

I know, I know...The Perfect Pumpkin Pie sounds like it should be read on Thanksgiving. Maybe on Christmas sometimes. But I promise you that this story takes place on Halloween.

Mr. Wilkerson is a crabby old man who insists that his wife make him perfect pies. Lucky for her, he kicks the bucket one Halloween night, and she buries him in the yard and moves away. The next Halloween, Jack and his grandmother are about to dig into a pumpkin pie when the ghost of Mr. Wilkerson assaults them, chanting, "Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkin pie!" If they don't bake him a perfect pumpkin pie, he'll haunt them forever. Luckily, Grandmother is a smart, sassy old lady who knows just what to do.

This is a nice change from the usual stories about witches and cutesy ghosts. (Although I love those stories, too.) My only warning is that for some children, the illustrations might be a little too gross. But then again, for other children, that will be the best part.

The Perfect Pumpkin Pie is available on Amazon.com. To purchase, click on any of the Amazon affiliate links in this post.

Goodnight Goon

You've heard of Goodnight Moon, right? It's always been one of The Boy's favorite books. We've read it hundreds of times.

Well, as you can imagine, Goodnight Goon is a parody of Goodnight Moon. It begins, "In the cold gray tomb / There was a gravestone / And a black lagoon /  And a picture of / Martians taking over the Moon." The story goes on, perfectly mimicking the rhyme scheme and rhythm of its predecessor. And it's perfect for Halloween.

The Boy loves it. I don't love-love it, but I do think it's pretty clever. The illustrations are along the lines of the front cover--if you think your child would be scared or grossed out by the cover, they probably won't enjoy the book. But I think most kids would get a kick out of it, especially boys who like slimy things and fans of Goodnight Moon.

Goodnight Goon
Written and illustrated by Michael Rex
Age range*: 3-6
My rating: 4 stars [out of five] 

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: I don't receive any compensation for reviewing children's books--I usually just get them at the local library.

Creepy Carrots!

This story isn't about Halloween, but the "creepy" factor makes it a good Halloween read anyway.

Creepy Carrots is about a young rabbit, Jasper, who loves to eat carrots out of Crackenhopper Field. He nabs some every time he walks by. Until one day [said in my best creepy-movie-narrator voice]...something changed. Jasper's sure that carrots are following him. But every time he turns around and looks, there aren't aren't really carrots there. Or are there...?

I won't give away the ending, of course. The Boy and I both liked this book. The illustrations don't get any creepier than what you see on the front cover, and the black/white/orange color scheme gives a nice creepy feel to the story [That's the last time I'll use the word "creepy." I promise.] Plus, again, it's nice to read something different from the usual Halloween stories, fun as those may be. The youngest kids might not follow the story very well, so I'd read this one to kids that are a bit older and can appreciate the atmosphere of the story. 

Creepy Carrots!
Written by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Peter Brown
Age range*: 5-7
My rating: 3 stars [out of five] 

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: I don't receive any compensation for reviewing children's books--I usually just get them at the local library.

Space Witch

So, it turns out that this is another story by Don Freeman that's out of print. Sorry about that. But check your library for it; it's definitely a different spin on the usual Halloween-themed children's books.

So, here's how Space Witch goes. Tilly Ipswich is a witch. And she gets this idea that she wants to travel this Halloween...to outer space! She builds herself a space ship and space suit out of tin foil and a dinosaur tooth and other witchy things, and powers the ship with "jet-black magic." (Don't worry, there's no actual black magic in this story.) She convinces her cat, Kit, to come with her by telling him about the Milky Way, and they're off to find otherworldly creatures to spook. Except, of course, things don't go exactly as planned. But Tilly and Kit do end up having a pretty good adventure.

I don't think this book is overly scary, but younger kids may have a hard time following the story. And...some kids might be a little weirded out by the witch-in-outer-space thing. The Boy liked it, though, and I thought it was a nice change from the usual Halloween stuff.

Space Witch
Written and illustrated by Don Freeman
Age range*: 3-6
My rating: 4 stars [out of five] 

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: The books reviewed here are books that I own or that have been checked out from the local library. Some links in this post are Amazon Affiliate links.

Halloween Good Night

Simple concept here--if you were a Halloween monster, how would you say goodnight to your mommy and daddy?

Well, if you were a werewolf, you'd say, "Yowwl!" And if you were a skeleton, you'd say, "Clickety clackety!" Good luck figuring out what the mummies are saying, though--it's in hieroglyphics.

The rhythm and rhyming are decent, which makes it fun to read aloud. And I really like the illustrations of all the little monsters in their pj's. Hee hee.

Halloween Good Night
Written by Doug Cushman
Age range*:3-6
My rating: 4 stars [out of five]

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: I don't receive any compensation for reviewing children's books--the books are usually just checked out from the local library.

Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin

Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin is the first of the Duck & Goose series that we've read. Duck and Goose are pretty popular fellas, so I was looking forward to picking this one up.

This is a sweet, simple story for younger kids. It goes like this: Duck and Goose see their friend, Thistle, carrying a pumpkin. They want one, too, so they look all over the place...but no pumpkin. Thistle finally points them in the direction of the pumpkin patch.

Little ones will like this book because Duck and Goose are so silly, looking for that pumpkin in all the wrong places. And little ones can probably relate--at least, at our house, Little Boy is always looking for something or other. He usually finds whatever-it-is on the shelf, where it's supposed to be.

Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin
Written by Tad Hills
Age range*: 2-4
My rating: 3 stars [out of five]

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: I don't receive any compensation for reviewing children's books--the books are usually just checked out from the local library.

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

Last year, I only posted one Halloween book. I'm going to do better this year! We're checking out tons of Halloween stories from the library.

The book I posted last Halloween, Ghosts in the House, is my current favorite Halloween story. We'll see if I find a new favorite this year or not. The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything is Little Boy's favorite. His favorites change pretty much every day, though.

There are two great things about this book:

1) It's Halloween-y, but not too scary. The little old lady is walking in the woods when she hears strange sounds following her. First, she hears two shoes behind her going CLOMP, CLOMP. Then she hears pants, a shirt, gloves, a hat, and finally a pumpkin head. Spooky, but not blood-dripping scary.

2) It's a "predictable story." That means it builds on itself. So, for example, first she hears the shoes going CLOMP, CLOMP. Then she hears two shoes going CLOMP, CLOMP and a pair of pants going WIGGLE, WIGGLE. Then she hears the shoes, pants, and the shirt. And so on. Kids love this kind of thing--they like to memorize it as the story goes along. Also, it's great for pre-readers.

I won't ruin the ending for you, but I will say that it ends in a very happy way. That little old lady is pretty cool.

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
Written by Linda Williams and illustrated by Megan Lloyd
Age range*: 2-6
My rating: 4 stars [out of five]

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: I don't receive any compensation for reviewing children's books--the books are usually just checked out from the local library.

A Halloween Story: Ghosts in the House!

Okay, so Halloween was awhile ago. But I wanted to post this one for myself--so I can remember to check it out from the library again next Halloween. Yeah, I liked it that much.

This story is just so sweet. A little girl moves into a house but--uh oh!--it's haunted! It's a good thing she's a witch, and she knows how to take care of ghosts. But wait until you see how she deals with the ghosts. It's adorable.

Also, the ghosts in the story are not scary. Most of them smile, and a few have an "O"-shaped mouth. My Little Boy was not into scary things this year, so Ghosts in the House was a good fit for us.

Ghosts in the House!
Written and illustrated byKazuno Kahara
Age range*: 2-5
My rating: 4 stars [out of five]

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: I don't receive any compensation for reviewing children's books--the books are usually just checked out from the local library.