Haunted Houses (in books for Kids)

Haunted House Books for children.

Halloween can be thrilling for all ages, it's fun to let your imagination free.  It's fun to dress up as something other worldly.  Haunted houses and attractions are all over this month and for a large variety of ages, because it's fun to have a little scare.  Now keep in mind that each child, and each person is different; I have a friend who's daughter has watched more horror movies than I have (yes I'm chicken and like my scary movies to be at the PG level.)  You know you're child(ren) best and can judge what their level of spooky fun is.

Inside a House That is Haunted


Written by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Illustrated by Tedd Arnold
A Level 2 Reader from Scholastic

I have so much fun reading this, and it's one I don't mind reading again and again which is good because it's often asked for now by my youngest in Kindergarten.  While yes, this is a Halloween book that ends with Trick or Treat, we read it year round.

I love how this book is one that builds the story in steps and repeats each one.  This is repetition is wonderful for those beginner readers.  My daughter loves to read (repeat) each of the previous events and is so proud of herself for being able to do that.  This constant going over also teaches and ingrains how sequence of events work and lays a foundation for reading comprehension.

As I said earlier this is a FUN read aloud book because of so many noises and sound effects you can make as you read.  Alyssa captured a funny haunted house atmosphere made for young kids to enjoy.  The startled spider frightened the ghost who surprised the cat...and so on the story goes.  It's funny to see scary creatures being the ones who are getting the fright.  Depending on the kid(s) you are reading to you can down play or really be theatrical in your reading.  I get really into this book and have a deep voice for stomping feet and go up into a high loud shriek, and a nice pause and a loud BOO!  My daughter loves it and laughs and gets her all excited.  I've learned to not be as theatrical at bedtime because I'm going to have a every energized child on my hands.

Ted Arnold has done a wonderful job in doing cute cartoon illustrations for this story.  They are colorful, engaging and funny.  After having read this book a couple dozen times I finally noticed the foreshadowing in the illustrations.

  I love how the ending is empowering for children. I hope you and your pre-K to second graders get a hold of a copy of this book and read it over and over again!


The Haunted Mansion


Music by: Buddy Baker
Lyrics by Xavier Atencio
Illustrations by James Gilleard

As you can tell from the credits above this is a book that comes with a CD, the book is based off of a song from Disney's movie The Haunted Mansion and/or from the attraction at the Disney Parks.  I remember looking forward to all the Disney movies this time of year, this one, Casper, Halloweentown, and Hocus Pocus!  And I still enjoy them even as an adult.
Back to this book, I love the vocabulary Xavier used and think he was extremely creative to pack in so many unique words.  In researching this book I was trying to find the Lexile level and I couldn't find it in any database that measures that, but I did find that it's aimed for children ages 3-5 according to Disney.  I think many of the terms in the book are much more advanced, and that's a good thing because it's expanding vocabulary and making those little pathways in the brain fire up and absorb more.  Personally I'd think this book is for older children ages 6-10.  I want to share with you some of the wonderful words used.  A fun thing to do with these words is to use them for a Word of the Day (or week) and have the children use them in sentences or in a project.

quake,     materialize,     grim,   shrouded,     daft,   knell,  requiem,    etherealize

I will admit I had to look up knell and requiem, there were enough context clues to know it had to do with death bells but I hadn't heard those terms before.  For most kids I'd imagine that many of the words in the book are new and that makes them both fun and a learning opportunity. The rhyming and alliteration paired with the vocabulary make this a very unique children's book that is fun to read.

Buddy Baker has composed more than 200 scores for Disney so the music on the CD is one of brilliance.  If you are into decorating and getting into the full Halloween spirit or are planing a Halloween party this CD is a must.  It's spooky and dramatic.  The vocals singing the song are pure talent. I have a hard time not getting tongue tied while reading the book slow, but they sing it in such a fast and eerie way and make it seem smooth and easy.  When I tried to follow along in the book with the kids I had a hard time turning the pages fast enough.

A fun thing about reading the book is how the text was done to be fluid and ghostly feeling.  As you are turning the pages you are getting a tour thought the Haunted Mansion, a peek into each room and area of the famous attraction and movie.   James Gilleard put a lot of detail into each illustration.  I love how he used purples, pinks, and yellows that I wouldn't usually think of as dark hues, but they are muted and haunting looking, it's a colorfully dark book.  The ghost are far more advanced (realistic) than in Inside A House That Is Haunted which is a lot of fun for older children.

Be sure to grab either the CD with the Grim Grinning Ghost song, the DVD, book, or even better get all three having to do the the Haunted Mansion and have some spooky fun this weekend!


For older readers check out the Haunted Mansion chapter book series:

Have a hauntingly good time reading!