Children | 01 Oct, 2026
The Best Children’s Books for Halloween 2026
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Halloween is just around the corner! Celebrate the spooky season with books for every age and stage, from mix-and-match board book creatures and playful Halloween activities to eerie folktales, ghost stories, and spine-tingling facts. Tell scary stories in the dark, sticker and color creepy candy, explore the culture and traditions behind Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), delve into the history of fear itself, and more with these spooktacular Halloween books for kids and teens.
Image About: The front cover of a board book titled "Pumpkin Mash: Mix and Match." The top of the cover shows the top half of a pumpkin character. The bottom of the cover shows the bottom half of a witch character. Together, the two halves make a mix-and-match character.
Pumpkin Mash
Author By Happy Yak, Spencer Wilson
Description
Have silly scrambled fun with these mix-and-match pumpkins that all have crazy, colorful personalities. Over 144 combinations to keep little ones entertained for hours.

In this wacky split-page board book, meet...
A ghost pumpkin! Playing spooky tricks.
A mermaid pumpkin! Splashing through the waves.
An alien pumpkin! Aboard a UFO.

But also...
A ghost pumpkin! Aboard a UFO.
A mermaid pumpkin! Playing spooky tricks.
An alien pumpkin! Splashing through the waves.

Featuring a dozen lovable pumpkins, this playful preschool offering is full of humor, with the final pumpkin having fun and glowing at a Halloween party.

  • Exciting matching game for laughing and bonding with your little pumpkin
  • Ideal Halloween gift for babies and toddlers
  • A precious keepsake from Halloween that can be re-read year-round
  • A crazy range of pumpkin characters to surprise and entertain

What’s the funniest pumpkin you can make? Read together at playtime or before bed! Or share with your friends and family to really crack them up laughing!

Pumpkin Mash is a delightfully silly book that makes an ideal Halloween gift for 1-4-year-olds, which will then be picked up from the shelf year-round for non-stop fun. Perfect for sitting down with your little one and laughing together at the crazy combinations you come up with. Fun, bright images to help keep kids entertained and distracted, and the interactive, split-page format makes this a quirky and exciting read for any time of day.
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Image About: Creepy Candy Coloring & Sticker Book
Creepy Candy Coloring & Sticker Book
Author By Toonz Animation USA, Inc.
Description
Color and sticker your way through a world where Halloween never ends and the weirdest candies come alive.

It’s cute. It’s spooky. And it’s candy. What could be sweeter? Creepy Candy Coloring & Sticker Book—the official coloring book of the animated YouTube series Creepy Candy—lets kids color, collect, and laugh along with a cast of delightfully haunted sweets. Starring Sarah Bellum, Icky, Yicky & Yuck, Buzz the fly, and more, this gang loves candy almost as much as causing chaos (the safe, giggle-inducing kind!).

This fun-filled book includes:

  • 96 pages of monstrously adorable artwork to color
  • 100+ stickers featuring creepy-cute characters
  • Premium paper suitable for crayons, markers, pencils, and gel pens
  • Perfect-for-sharing one-sided designs, great for crafts and card-making
  • All treats, no tricks: easy fun for fans ages 4 and up

Whether your kid’s a year-round Halloween fan or just in the mood for something delightfully eerie, Creepy Candy Coloring & Sticker Book brings the sweet, spooky fun with every page. Great as a party favor, a rainy day project, or a delightfully weird gift.
Location: US; Sub Code: 61
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Image About: The front cover of a picture book titled "Halloween," in the "Celebrations & Festivals" series. The cover shows a Halloween scene with children dressed as a ghost, a skeleton, a pumpkin, and a witch. Glowing jack-o'-lanterns sit at their feet.
Halloween
Author By Nancy Dickmann, Laura Borio
Description
Experience the Fun and Meaning of Halloween and How It’s Celebrated Across the Globe

It’s fall, and Luna is gearing up for a spook-tacular Halloween with her family and friends. Join them to discover more about how and why we celebrate this exciting holiday!

Get into the Halloween spirit with Celebrations & Festivals: Halloween, a beautifully illustrated, narrative non-fiction picture book made for kids. This engaging and informative book takes young readers on a colorful journey through the history and significance of Halloween and other related festivals that share similar themes, all told with a gentle, kid-friendly voice.

Meet Luna, her little brother Oliver, their parents, their dog Rafferty, and their black cat, Midnight! Together, they get ready for a fun-filled Halloween by visiting a pumpkin patch, navigating a corn maze, and making spooky decorations for their home. Luna also has fun with her friends; carving jack-o’-lanterns, baking sweet treats, throwing a Halloween party with festive games, making costumes, going trunk-or-treating, and, of course, trick-or-treating on Halloween night!

Halloween doesn’t have to be too scary—this book helps kids who might be afraid understand and enjoy the traditions and symbols of Halloween so they can join in the fun too!

  • Follow relatable characters and their parents as they celebrate Halloween, spreading joy and fun throughout the community.
  • Discover the origins of Halloween and how it’s become the holiday we know today.
  • Create your own decorations and party pieces, like a pumpkin piñata and spooky cobwebs.
  • Try out a tasty recipe for banana ghost pops.
  • Enjoy 16 extra pages of non-fiction content, including quizzes and activities that bring the learning to life, encouraging kids to engage, create, and understand the cultural significance of Halloween and related festivals around the world.

Perfect for families, educators, and young readers, this book celebrates diversity, inclusion, and all the fun of Halloween.

Discover more with other titles in the amazing Celebrations & Festivals series!
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Image About: A World Full of Spooky Stories
A World Full of Spooky Stories
Author By Angela McAllister, Madalina Andronic
Description
Get ready for Halloween with this child-friendly collection of spooky stories from all over the world.

Feel your pulse race and your skin tingle as you turn the pages of this spine-chilling anthology of spooky stories from around the world. Read all about the fearsome witch Baba Yaga, the serpent woman from Spain, the rescue of Tam Lin from the bewitching Queen of the Fairies, how Father Death gets caught in the Enchanted Apple Tree, and the waterdwelling Bunyip from Australia. Make sure you have your candle ready as it’s sure to be a long night… This gorgeous gift book is the perfect anthology for Halloween, or any time you want to be spooked!

Features stories from Germany, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Africa, Brazil, Japan, Australia, India, UK, Canada, France, China, Ireland, Syria, Korea, Sweden, Egypt, Iceland, New Zealand, Arabia, Spain, Tibet, Iran, Greece. The tales are expertly retold by Angela McAllister for spooky fun for the whole family and illustrated by Romanian born Madalina Andronic whose beautifully spooky images bring these stories to life before your very eyes.
 
Are you ready for story time with a spooky twist?

The World Full of… series is a collection of beautiful hardcover story treasuries. Discover folktales from all around the world or be introduced to some of the world’s best-loved writers with these stunning gift books, the perfection addition to any child’s library.

Also available from the series: A Year Full of Stories, A World Full of Animal Stories, A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories, A World Full of Dickens Stories, A Year Full of Celebrations and Festivals, and A Bedtime Full of Stories.
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Image About: The front cover of a picture book titled 'Día de Muertos', in the 'Celebrations & Festivals' series. The cover shows children gathered around an altar that has been decorated with marigolds, candles and photos of loved ones.
Día de Muertos
Author By Jaque Jours, Alejandra Ruiz
Description
Discover the meaning of Dia de Muertos and learn how children all around the world celebrate this festival.

Pancho and his family are inviting you to celebrate with them! Join in as they prepare in the lead-up to the festival, setting up the ofrendas, finding photographs of beloved family members, decorating with flowers, cutting out skull patterns, cooking tamales and enjoying a wonderful day with all the family.

Along the way, you’ll learn all about the significance and history of the festival, brought to even more life with:

  • Instructions to make your own papel picado
  • A recipe to make delicious pan de muerto 
  • A fun quiz to try out all your knowledge 

In this immersive exploration of Dia de Muertos, kids join a family as they celebrate. Seen through the eyes of young children celebrating themselves, this is a simple and exciting way to introduce little ones to this special period.

In the Celebrations & Festivals series, you are invited into a family's celebrations as you explore the magic and excitement of religious and cultural festivals around the world.
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Image About: The Dia de Los Muertos Story
The Dia de Los Muertos Story
Author By Andrea Jáuregui De La Torre, Laura González
Description
Join Little Andrea on an exploration of her Mexican heritage and the history of the Day of the Dead, a holiday that transforms death into a joyful celebration of life.

Through detailed stories told by Little Andrea’s beloved abuela, The Dia de Los Muertos Story reveals to young readers the origins of Dia de Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, what it means to Mexican families, and how it has grown and expanded to other parts of the world, specifically north into the United States. 

This enchanting picture book follows Little Andrea as she discovers how what began as ceremonies practiced by the ancient Aztecs has evolved into a holiday recognized far beyond the borders of Mexico. As the story unfolds, Little Andrea explores significant moments in history and historical figures that demonstrate the endurance of the holiday through the ages.

The Dia de Los Muertos Story offers children a deeply personal and more meaningful way to connect with the season surrounding the more commercial celebration of Halloween, giving an opportunity to transform the often-scary topic of death into a more nuanced perspective that includes the important celebrations of life, family, and friends. 

Gorgeously illustrated, this guide to understanding Dia de los Muertos encourages a young audience to engage directly with the holiday and Mexican culture through its many hallmarks such as sugar skulls, papel picado, ofrendas, catrinas, and more.

Young readers will love learning beside Little Andrea about the incredible history and traditions of Dia de los Muertos and its joyful celebration of life.

The Holiday Celebration series from becker&mayer! kids honors the diverse holidays and milestones that shape the cultural fabric of the United States. Though these traditions may have originated elsewhere, brought to our shores by ancestors from around the world, they have endured and evolved to weave the vibrant tapestry of American life. The series includes picture books and their companion kid-friendly cookbooks that share stories uniquely representative of the American experience—an experience that is multilayered, eclectic, inclusive, and joyfully beautiful.

Also available from the series: The Juneteenth Story, The Juneteenth Cookbook, The Dia de Los Muertos Cookbook, and The Kwanzaa Story.

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Image About: The front cover of a children's book titled "The Book of Frights for Spooky Nights." The cover is illustrated with horned and flying monsters and a spider.
The Book of Frights for Spooky Nights
Author By Leisa Stewart-Sharpe, Eva Sánchez Gómez
Description

Ghosts and ghouls, crypts and cryptids await you in The Book of Frights for Spooky Nights, the illustrated notes of a long-gone Ghost Hunter—a guru from beyond the grave who explored the world's scariest places.

Step inside the cursed pages of a book that dares you to explore the world’s most haunted places. From dodging the the seasick spirits aboard the Queen Mary in California to escaping the pharaoh’s wrath in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, this chilling compendium blends real history with spine-tingling legend. 

Turn each page to uncover:

  • Seven featured haunted locations from across the globe, including the Queen Mary and the Ship of the Shadows in California, the Paris Catacombs, and Edinburgh’s Greyfriars Kirkyard.
  • Bitesize tales of the Ghost Hunter's travels to farflung places.
  • Authentic historical research behind the myths, curses, and ghostly sightings.
  • Hauntingly beautiful illustrations that bring every spooky setting to life.
  • A glossary of ghostly terms and folklore for curious minds.

From treading the storied cemeteries of Edinburgh to dodging the Headless Horseman in Connecticut, these are adventures you wouldn't want to go on alone!

With hauntingly beautiful illustrations and a thrilling fact-or-fiction, book-within-a-book narrative, The Book of Frights for Spooky Nights is best read by the flickering light of a campfire, or a flashlight way past bedtime . . . 

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Image About: The front cover of the children's book '"Haunted U.S.A." The subtitle reads: "Spine-tingling stories from all 50 states." The dark, spooky cover shows a skeleton driving a speed boat. A black cat sits next to the skeleton and there are tombstones in the back seats. A moth flies above the boat and a lighthouse, ship, and UFO can be seen in the distance.
Haunted USA
Author By Heather Alexander, Sam Kalda
Description

We've got spirits, yes we do! Haunted USA is a terrifying treasure trove of supernatural scares from each of the 50 states, from the vengeful witch of New Hampshire, Goody Cole, to Missouri's unlikely icon, Momo the swamp monster.

In this illustrated compendium drawing on fact, folklore, mythology and urban legend, you'll shine a light on ghosts, ghouls, cryptids, and even a haunted carousel. Some tales will give you chills—like that of Rue, the unfortunate daughter of an Oregon lighthouse-keeper who even today wanders the forlorn tower's guest rooms—while others—like the friendly ghost of Dr. Justina Ford who guides visitors around her old Colorado home—prove that some phantoms still hold on to that friendly American spirit.

Some are downright strange. Have you ever heard of the chocolate-loving ghost of Iowa, or Delaware's specter who can't stand sneezing? Still others are older than the USA itself, from Hawaii's Night Marchers to the ancient Sleeping Buffalo Rock of Montana (which may not be quite so asleep after all).

When you've read all you can handle, turn to the back of the book for a glossary of ghoulish terms and even expert advice on going ghost-hunting yourself!

Whether you're after a campfire fright, a slice of local lore, or a traditional tale to sink your teeth into, Haunted USA is a rich anthology from the land of the really, really brave. With stories that are carefully chosen and sensitively told for 9–12-year-olds, it's perfect for those cozy evenings around Halloween, or for adding a sprinkle of spookiness to a summer road trip.

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Image About: Boo!
Boo!
Author By Clive Gifford, Rohan Eason
Description

"...sure to be a hit, whether for Halloween or any old time." – Booklist

Join this fascinating thrill‑ride to discover everything you ever wanted to know about fear, but were too afraid to ask.
 
What are you afraid of? Maybe it’s heights, public speaking, spiders, or the things that go bump in the night. Whatever makes your stomach flip, have you ever wondered why it affects you so much? Boo! answers that question and many more. 
 
Across thirteen chapters discover: 

  • Historical figures with surprising phobias, such as Emperor Augustus and his fear of lightning. 
  • Some of the eeriest real‑life hauntings ever reported, from the ghostly Roman legions of York’s Treasurer’s House to the vengeful spirits of Ireland’s Leap Castle. 
  • The long history of telling scary stories, with tips on how to craft your own featuring insights and quotes from some of the best storytellers. 
  • How your favourite horror films work, and the techniques that make them so effective. 
  • Some of the most common modern fears, from FOMO to everyday anxiety. 
  • Clear, practical advice for identifying, managing, and overcoming your fears, helping you build confidence in day‑to‑day life. 


From the depths of the human brain to the voices from beyond the grave, and tackling the fears familiar to us all, Boo! is a must-have guide to this endlessly interesting yet little understood topic. 
 
Whether you're after a dose of psychology, pop-culture, folklore, mental wellbeing tips, or just a good old-fashioned scare, this is the book for you! 


"Part history, part guidebook to the world of scary. Hand this page-turning romp to fans of nonfiction ­series like “­Eyewitness."' – School Library Journal

"Equal parts informative and entertaining, this visually enticing compendium invites readers to embrace the thrill of being scared." – Publishers Weekly

Location: US; Sub Code: 61
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Image About: Stephen King
Stephen King
Author By Bev Vincent
Description
A thrilling visual companion curated for young adults voraciously reading their way through Stephen King’s colossal corpus of creepy books.

*2025 CBC Young Adult Favorites Winner*
*2025 CBC Teacher Favorites Winner*
*2025 CBC Librarian Favorites Winner*

For many young readers, when the last page of Goosebumps is turned, the first chapter of Pet Sematary begins, and a world of terror crafted by Stephen King is revealed. His novels are as fascinating as his life, and in this ultimate illustrated guidebook, young readers explore the cultural phenomenon and legacy of the King of Horror.

From scare-seeking child to impoverished university student to struggling schoolteacher to one of the best-selling—and most recognizable—authors of all time, this engrossing book reveals the evolution and influences of Stephen King’s body of work over his nearly 50-year career, and how the themes of his writing reflect the changing times and events within his life.

With tons of photos, approachable bite-size sections, and gripping details to captivate young readers, the book features:
 
  • An extensive look into Stephen King’s books, short stories, writings, movies, series, and other adaptations ideal for the young reader to review.
  • Exclusive memorabilia from Stephen King, including personal and professional correspondences, handwritten manuscript pages, book covers, movie stills, and a never-before-seen excerpts from his poems.
  • Personal insights and observations such as real-life settings that inspired King’s writing, the editor who discovered him, his life as a Boston Red Sox fan, and the many awards and honors he has received.
  • Motivating quotes from King from interviews over the decades.

“My childhood was pretty ordinary, except from a very early age I wanted to be scared…there was a radio program at the time called Dimension X, and my mother didn’t want me to listen to that because she felt it was too scary for me, so I would creep out of bed and go to the bedroom door and crack it open. And she loved it, so apparently, I got it from her, but I would listen at the door and then when the program was over, I’d go back to bed and quake.” —Stephen King
 
Young adults will covet this comprehensive yet accessible reference to their favorite horror author.
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