Embrace Your Weird: Spooky Season Storytime Adventures

We are back, and leaning into the spooky-season Storytime, with these titles that have cute pumpkins, a grumpy tree, familiar characters and messages about embracing your weird little selves!

Christopher Pumpkin by Sue Hendra & Paul Linnet; illustrated by Nick East

A children's book cover titled 'Christopher Pumpkin' featuring a cheerful pumpkin character wearing large glasses, set against a purple background with bats and a spooky castle in the corner.

Meet Christopher Pumpkin, a little pumpkin with a BIG problem: he’s been brought to life by a witch who expects him to help prepare the creepiest, scariest Halloween party ever.

The trouble?

Christopher would much rather decorate with pretty bunting and serve fairy cakes than hang cobwebs and cook curried slugs!

While the other pumpkins embrace their spooky side, Christopher struggles to fit in while staying true to himself. With playful rhymes, silly Halloween humor, and delightfully quirky illustrations, this story is a cute reminder that you don’t have to be like everyone else to belong.

Christopher is my kind of pumpkin. Not everyone was born to be creepy- some of us were born to bring joy and snacks!

The Halloween Tree by Susan Montanari; illustrated by Terese Martinez

Cover of 'The Halloween Tree' featuring a whimsical tree with a face under a full moon, surrounded by two houses, with children in costumes looking on.

Meet a tree with one very important rule:

NO PEOPLE, NO DECORATIONS, AND ABSOLUTELY NO CHRISTMAS CHEER!

This grumpy little pine grows into a twisted, spooky-looking tree, perfectly content to be left alone. But when neighborhood kids discover him, his branches become everything from a pirate ship to a spaceship, and he starts to realize that maybe having people around isn’t so terrible after all.

When his future is threatened, the children find a wonderfully fitting way to save their favorite tree.

The Halloween Tree reminds us that being different isn’t something to fix- it’s something to celebrate. And sometimes the tree that doesn’t fit in at Christmas gets to be the star of Halloween!

Perfect to enjoy with littles who like the more subtle, less spooky Halloween stories, and the illustrations are so fun!

The Good, the Bad, and the Spooky by Jory John; illustrated by Pete Oswald

Cover of the book 'The Good, The Bad, and The Spooky' featuring playful illustrations of a character resembling a seed, dressed up as a pirate, and two other whimsical characters, with Halloween decorations in the background.

The Bad Seed is back, and naturally, he has decided that if Halloween isn’t going exactly his way, then nobody gets to have fun.

You see, Halloween is the Bad Seed’s favorite holiday, but there is just one tiny problem:

He can’t find the PERFECT costume.

And instead of accepting defeat like a reasonable little seed, he decides the obvious solution is to postpone trick-or-treating for everyone. Because why should the neighborhood enjoy Halloween if he can’t look spectacular!?

This hilarious addition to the Bad Seed series is packed with the usual expressive illustrations, big feelings, and plenty of Halloween shenanigans as our favorite grump learns that sometimes the pursuit of perfection can get in the way of having a good time.

A laugh-out-loud read that opens the door to conversations about frustration, flexibility, and remembering that the world does not, in fact, revolve around us.

If you enjoy this one, be sure to look at the rest in the series, as Jory John truly nails learning lessons (with favorite foods) without being too in-your-face about it!

Last but not least, a middle-grade read that is on the spookier side! This was a nice quick read and had just the right amount of creepy with a dash of self-discovery.

Ghost Girl by Ally Malinenko

Zee loves ghost stories, but she never expected to become a part of one. It all begins on a dark and stormy night (of course), and when the skies clear, things are decidedly NOT normal.

People are missing, a creepy new principal seems to know everyone’s darkest dreams, and Zee is seeing some seriously unsettling things—including enormous talking dogs, and possibly a ghost.

When her classmates aren’t exactly lining up to believe her, Zee’s best friend Elijah is one of the few people willing to listen. But as everyone’s selfish wishes begin coming true in increasingly creepy ways, Zee must embrace what makes her different and work with some unexpected allies to uncover the truth.

Full of eerie twists, supernatural suspense, and a whole lot of courage, Ghost Girl is a spooky adventure about friendship, standing up for what’s right, and discovering that the things that make us different just might be our greatest strengths.

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