Vintage Halloween Books for Today’s Children

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Tis the season! And this time I do mean that fall-into-winter glide through Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I’d like to share with you some of the vintage books for these holidays that my children clamored for again and again back in the day. I’m always a little surprised when I see my favorite old children’s books listed as “vintage” on eBay, but I’m happy to claim “vintage” as in “high quality and lasting value”, and certainly these books of my children’s era fit in this category.

Let’s start with Halloween.

I loved Halloween, both as a child and as a mother of three children who loved candy and loved dressing up in costumes to get it. Our experiences were a little different, of course – my mother threw together costumes the day before, either a witch or ghost, with maybe a hobo or cowgirl if we had appropriate props. In the 1950s we went out with our siblings and friends in our neighborhood, while our parents handed out cookies, candy, or candied apples at home. By the time our children were old enough to trick or treat, one of us parents would amble up the street with the younger kids and their friends, and let them go to the door on their own. The most fun part was probably emptying out the candy haul on the living room floor and engaging in serious negotiations for favorite treats.

Halloween may be celebrated a little differently this year because of the pandemic, but the elements that make the season remain the same. Scary witches, broomsticks and black cats, spider webs, drifting ghosts, carved pumpkins and gravestones, creaky sound effects and trick or treat candy all set the mood. Children and adults both enjoy a chance to play dress up and step outside their normal roles.

Perhaps you’ve decided to skip the Haunted House this year in favor of some socially distanced trick or treating, or hold your party outdoors with a widely separated costume parade to give those virus droplets plenty of space to disperse. Maybe Halloween will move to a treasure or scavenger hunts outdoors, where children hunt for candy and other treats by the light of the moon (and maybe some flashlights). In any event, Halloween is a favorite event for many families, and the preparation for October 31 can be enjoyed with books of all sorts.

Five Little Pumpkins is probably the earliest Halloween book to introduce to little ones, and there are dozens of versions of this child’s finger play. One of my favorites is by Iris Van Rynbach, because of her entertaining illustrations. “Five little pumpkins, sitting on a gate”, and we see a pumpkin with round glasses, one with a mustache, one with big flirty eyelashes, and all with some personality. They roll along with some trick or treaters, and come to a big haunted house, with cats, witches, spiders, and other surprises in the windows. This was a favorite with my children, in part because their favorite singer Raffi recited the poem on his CD Singable Songs for the Very Young.

Another great book to give the flavor Halloween for the littles is Carl’s Halloween by Alexandra Day. If you are familiar with the Carl series, you’ll recognize the secret excursions of Carl and baby Madeleine, who take the opportunity to dress up and go out trick or treating and partying while mom is away. Carl collects candy in his basket and shares it with someone who has run out of candy. These illustrations are (delightfully) of an earlier age, with sweet witches, ghosts, princesses, Raggedy Ann and Andy, and a giraffe, and certainly nothing particularly scary. They are home again before mother returns and assures them that next year they will be old enough to go out on Halloween. The illustrations are beautiful and since this is mostly a wordless book, the illustrations drive your telling of the story.

The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat by Stan and Jan Berenstain is innocent enough, while hinting at the “trick” side to trick or treating. Brother dresses up as a monster and sister as a ballerina, and they set out together with their friends to trick or treat in the neighborhood. On the way they run into Too-Tall Grizzly and his gang, and find themselves on Crooked Lane heading for Miz McGrizz’s spooky treehouse. Before they can run away, and before Two-Tall can unroll his toilet paper for a trick, Miz McGrizz has invited them in for candy apples. Appearances are deceiving, and Miz McGrizz is a friendly neighbor rather than a scary witch.

Norman Bridwell, the author of the Clifford series, also introduces a hint of the darker side in The Witch Next Door. A girl and her brother have a new neighbor who dresses in black robes and wears a black hat. Her broom is parked at the curb, when it isn’t sweeping the sidewalk in front of the house. Their neighborhood witch is fun and helpful, but one day some grumpy neighbors come to tell the witch to leave! The witch casts a spell to turn them into a prince and princess, and they change their mind and leave considerably happier than they arrived. The line drawings are simple and just black with some seasonably green accents.

Finally, Jack Prelutsky’s It’s Halloween! Older children who can relish a little more spice to their holiday will enjoy these Halloween poems, especially if read in a dark room with candlelight flickering on the walls. “Trick or treat, trick or treat, give us something good to eat!” is a phrase that brings back Halloween preparations every year. These poems refer to green goblins, ghouls and demons, werewolves, and skeletons “with bony bodies, bony heads and bony hands and feet.” At the end of the book, we’re left with a decidedly upbeat view of the whole experience. Prelutsky was the first US Children’s Poet Laureate for 2006-8, and also wrote It’s Thanksgiving and It’s Christmas.

However you plan to celebrate Halloween this year, I hope books are a happy part of it.

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