31 Days:: Halloween Stories:: Elementary School

I'll be honest, I really, really dislike Halloween.  I am a GIANT scaredy cat!  I stopped trick-or-treating when it was no longer cool for your mom to walk with you.  I think that was 4th grade maybe.  I don't like to be scared.  I don't like scary sounds.  I don't like masks.  I don't like walking my kids around because I don't like to be out in it BUT staying home is almost worse because then I feel like a sitting duck for all the scary things out there.  Big sigh.  It's a conundrum, I tell you.

BUT, I do recognize that the majority of kids LOVE Halloween, and I have come to realize that books for Halloween really grab their attention.

So, with no further ado...

Not Halloween in theme, but I usually read this one with preK students - they love the "scare the tuna salad out of him" part and they love it when Sam rattles off all the reasons why he was crying.  And, of course, I do love some Mo Willems... {Leonardo the Terrible Monster}

There Was an Old Lady That Was Not Afraid of Anything - I love that kids can participate in this story and I love the repetition!  This book is one of my favorite read alouds and I really look forward to it every year.

I Need My Monster and Jitterbug Jam are kind of reverse in nature...A child who needs the monster under his bed to go to sleep and a child monster convinced that there is a boy hiding under his bed.  Both are very cute stories.

With the older kids, I usually pick a story or two out of this oldie but goodie... {Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark} You know, the ones that I don't find to be too scary...

Did you read that book when you were a kid?  I did.  But I always had to cover the illustrations with a piece of paper.  Because that was just too much for me.  :)