Whether it’s a ghost just trying to fit in or a house that is dying to be haunted, these spooky picture books are perfect for an All Hallows’ Eve read-a-loud.
Gustavo the Shy Ghost
by Flavia Z. Drago
Gustavo is good at doing all sorts of ghostly things: walking through walls, making objects fly and glowing in the dark. And he loves almost nothing more than playing beautiful music on his violin. But Gustavo is shy, and some things are harder for him to do, like getting in a line to buy eye scream or making friends with other monsters. Whenever he tries getting close to them, he realizes they just can’t see him. Now that the Day of the Dead is fast approaching, what can he do to make them notice him and to share with them something he loves?
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Hardly Haunted
by Jessie Sima
When a house believes she is haunted, she tries everything in her power to stop it in order to get people to move in—until she realizes that she is fine just the way she is. From the bestselling creator of Not Quite Narwhal comes a delightfully spooky story about an old house who wants to be a home, even if her new family isn’t what she expected.
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She Wanted to Be Haunted
by Marcus Ewert (author) and Susie Ghahremani (illustrator)
An adorable, bright pink cottage with shiny windows and flowers growing all around her aspires to become a creepy haunted castle or a magical witch’s hut before her attempts to attract a ghostly resident render her cuter than ever. With whimsical, rhyming stanzas, She Wanted to be Haunted offers a delightful, lyrical twist on the ever-important question of how to be your very best self.
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The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt
by Riel Nason (author) and Byron Eggenschwiler (illustrator)
Ghosts are supposed to be sheets, light as air and able to whirl and twirl and float and soar. But the little ghost who is a quilt can’t whirl or twirl at all, and when he flies, he gets very hot. He doesn’t know why he’s a quilt. His parents are both sheets, and so are all of his friends. (His great-grandmother was a lace curtain, but that doesn’t really help cheer him up.) He feels sad and left out when his friends are zooming around, and he can’t keep up. But one Halloween, everything changes. The little ghost who was a quilt has an experience that no other ghost could have, an experience that only happens because he’s a quilt… and he realizes that it’s OK to be different.