Patch Picks: 5 Books For Young Ghouls

We here at Patch absolutely love Halloween. Honestly, where to begin? There are Halloween parties, trick-or-treating, jack-o-lanterns, walking through "haunted" houses and corn mazes, watching scary movies and, lastly, reading scary books. Your kids probably have a love/hate relationship with being scared at this point, so this week we thought we'd give you our picks for five fun Halloween books to read to the youngsters, most of which can probably get checked out through the .

1. "Scared Silly" by James Howe: On Halloween night a cat, dog and "vampire" bunny (cleverly dubbed Bunnicula) are at home alone—or are they? Not only does a witch sneak into the house, but she has the gall to start making (non-alcoholic) witches brew in the kitchen. The final ingredient she needs is a vampire bunny. True page turner. 

2. "The Hallo-weiner" by Dav Pilkey: It's hard enough for Oscar being the only weiner dog in the neighborhood, but when he dresses as a hot dog on Halloween, everyone is laughing—until they all need his help. Soon the laughing stock of the neighborhood dogs becomes the new favorite. Perfect underdog story. Pun intended.

3. "Haunted House" by Jan Pienkowski: Let the pop-ups on each page tell the story of an unwell homeowner whose home has been completely overtaken by the oddest bunch of monsters and animals. Fully equipped with creepy black cats, over-sized ghouls lurking in the cupboards and a creepy grandfather clock, to name a few. This pop-up book has been a Halloween classic for more than 30 years.

4. "Big Pumpkin" by Erica Silverman: This is a classic witch's-pumpkin-has-grown-too-big-to-remove-it-from-the-garden-and-bring-it-into-the-kitchen-to-make-pumpkin-pie story. Heck, even her scary friends can't move the dang thing. What's Halloween and autumn without pumpkin pie. Whatever will she do?!?!

5. "It's Halloween" by Jack Prelutsky: We've offered stories and picture books. Now it's time to toss a poetry book in the mix for your little T.S. Eliot (hey, there's a costume idea for your young one). Prelutsky's book is packed with thirteen short Halloween poems that are more fun than scary.