Gentle Halloween Books for Children Who Do Not Like Being Scared
Read-Aloud Tips
Not every child wants a witch at bedtime. Six ways to do Halloween reading that is exciting without being frightening, plus what to do when the rest of the class loves the scary stuff.
Every October, one child in every class quietly stops putting their hand up at storytime. The books have changed - witches, monsters, things under beds. Everyone else is thrilled, and this child has decided that stories are now a risk.
If that is your child, this is for you. Halloween reading does not have to mean frightening reading, and there is a whole shelf of books that give the thrill of the season without the bit that keeps them awake.
What actually frightens a small child
It is rarely the monster. It is usually one of three things -
- Surprise. A loud noise, a shout, or a picture that suddenly changes. This is why pop-up Halloween books land badly at bedtime.
- Loss of a safe person. Stories where a child is separated from their grown-up cause more upset than any werewolf.
- Not knowing when it ends. A child who cannot tell whether the scary part is over will ask you to stop the book. A child who knows the shape of a story will lean in.
So look for books with a clear problem, a friendly ending, and nothing that jumps. That is exactly the same test I use for choosing a picture book at all - the season just raises the stakes on the third one.
The trick that makes any book safe
Name the mechanism out loud before you start. "Shall we see what the pumpkin does?" tells a child that the pumpkin is a character in a story rather than a thing in the room. Then, when something looks uncertain, ask: "Is he being silly, or is he being scary?" Most four-year-olds will take the bait and decide firmly that he is being silly.
And if they want the same gentle book for the ninth night in a row while the rest of the world reads about ghosts, let them. Repetition is comfort, and comfort is the point in October.
6 gentle things to read this month
1. Cuddles Loses His Home - a lost koala finds a new home. One clear problem, a warm ending, nothing that jumps.
2. Penny and the Silver Stream - a proper adventure with a brave platypus, for a five- or six-year-old who wants to feel daring.
3. 25 Easy Baking Recipes For Kids - not a story at all, but the book that makes a kitchen feel like a treat in the last week of October.
4. Anything you already know by heart. Familiarity beats novelty in a week full of new things.
5. A book about the dark that ends in bed. If your child is worried about the evenings getting darker, read something that settles at home.
6. Your own Halloween story, told rather than read. Mine stars a pumpkin who cannot decide what face to wear, and it takes four minutes. Yours will be better.
Something to do with their hands
If reading is the hard part this month, colouring is the easy way in. There is a free set of friendly Halloween colouring pages on this site - a smiling pumpkin, a ghost who only says hello, a bat, a cat and a spider's web. A child who has spent twenty minutes colouring a pumpkin will happily listen to a story about one.
Read the book, ask one question, and let the lights do their bit.