What better books to share with children than stories about Jack-o-lanterns, trick-or-treating, skeletons, and haunted houses, when Halloween is drawing near? Most of the following titles, collected from a posting compiled by Stacey Schultz (Oct 21, 2005) at the PUBYAC (http://www.pubyac.org/) listserv, are non-scary picture books that librarians have reported to be successful with preschoolers. Titles with an asterisk may be scary stories.

At the end of this post is a search method to locate many more juvenile titles about Halloween in our library.

Bollinger, Peter.
Algernon Graeves Is Scary Enough. 2005.
Algernon Graeves wants to wear the darkest, scariest Halloween costume ever to go trick-or-treating and finally thinks of just the right thing.
Location: Center for Children's Books
Call Number: Q. SE. B638a

Brown, Ruth.
*A Dark, Dark Tale: Story and Pictures. 1981.
Journeying through a dark, dark house, a black cat surprises the only inhabitant of the abandoned residence.
Location: Education Remote Storage
Call Number: SE. B8144D

Cazet, Denys.
The Perfect Pumpkin Pie. 2005.
Mr. Wilkerson, lover of pie, returns as a ghost on Halloween to demand some good pie from Jack and his grandmother.
Location: Center for Children's Books
Call Number: Q. SE. C319p

DeFelice, Cynthia C.
The Dancing Skeleton. 1989.
An ornery dead man refuses to stay in his coffin and causes a disturbance when the best fiddler in town comes to call on his widow.
Location: Education Remote Storage
Call Number: SE. D361D

Desimini, Lisa.
Trick-or-Treat, Smell My Feet! 2005.
When twin witches Delia and Ophelia cook up a mischievous spell for Halloween, a mysterious ingredient causes the potion to backfire.
Location: Education S Collection
Call Number: Q. SE. D461t

Emberley, Ed.
*Go Away, Big Green Monster! 1992.
Die-cut pages through which bits of a monster are revealed are designed to help a child control nighttime fears of monsters.
Location: Education S Collection
Call Number: Q.SE. EM13G

Galdone, Paul.
The Teeny-Tiny Woman; A Ghost Story. 1984.
Retells the tale of the teeny-tiny woman who finds a teeny-tiny bone in a churchyard and puts it away in her cupboard before she goes to sleep.
Location: Education Storage
Call Number: SE. G131TE

Graves, Keith.
Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance. 1999.
Frank the monster indulges his love of dancing by strutting his stuff on stage until his head unzips, his brains flop out, and he continues to lose body parts.
Location: Center for Children's Books
Call Number: SE. G785f

Hall, Zoe.
It's Pumpkin Time! 1994.
A sister and brother plant and tend their own pumpkin patch so they will have jack-o-lanterns for Halloween.
Location: Education S Collection
Call Number: Q.SE. H1495I

Heller, Nicholas.
*Goblins in Green. 1995.
A succession of goblins, from Annabelle in an amber blouse to Zelda in a zebra anorak, presents the letters of the alphabet.
Location: I-Share Libraries

Hubbard, Patricia.
Trick or Treat Countdown. 1999.
A counting book that lists scary sights on Halloween, from one haunted house to twelve creeping cats.
Location: Center for Children's Books
Call Number: SE. H861t

Johnston, Tony.
Very Scary. 1995.
A pumpkin shimmering in the moonlight attracts the attention of an owl, a cat, crickets, a witch, and a group of boys and girls, who change it into a scary jack-o-lantern.
Location: Education Storage
Call Number: SE. J648VE

Krosoczka, Jarrett.
*Annie was Warned. 2003.
Disregarding warnings about the creepy mansion outside of town, Annie bravely goes to investigate on Halloween night and gets a big surprise.
Location: Education S Collection
Call Number: Q. SE. K928a

London, Jonathan.
Froggy's Halloween. 1999.
Froggy tries to find just the right costume for Halloween and although his trick-or-treating does not go as he had planned, he enjoys himself anyway.
Location: Education S Collection
Call Number: Q. SE. L8462frog