Today you get to read about one of my favorite Halloween picture books: Very Scary (1999) by Tony Johnston, illustrated by Douglas Florian. “If a picture is worth a thousand words …” eh forget that worn-out phrase — the book has pretty pictures.
In this spooky Halloween book for preschoolers, a group of trick-or-treaters transforms a very large pumpkin into a very scary Jack-O-Lantern. Very Scary is such a cute book because it captures the spirit of Halloween in the mind of a 5-year-old. The pictures are large and vivid, and the tone is playful and exciting.
This book is just spooky enough for a child enjoying his or her first couple of Halloweens. The tone lands the book perfectly at a 3- to 8-year-old range.
Unfortunately this book is quite hard to find because it has such a generic, vague title: Very Scary. For that reason, and for that alone, I give this book four and a half out of five stars.
More Books Like This
If you like Very Scary, you might also like The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969) by Eric Carle for its vivid, colorful pictures.
More great Halloween picture books include Big Pumpkin (1992) by Erica Silverman, illustrated by S. D. Schindler and Room on the Broom (2003) by Julia Donaldson. Strega Nona (1975) by Tomie dePaola could also count.
Happy Halloween!
– by Abbie Call
Read next: Enemy Pie Book Review.
Abbie Call – Cannonville/Kirksville, Missouri
Abbie Call is a journalist and editor at The Byway. She graduated in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in editing and publishing from Brigham Young University. Her favorite topics to write about include anything local, Utah’s megadrought, and mental health and meaning in life. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hanging out with family, quilting and hiking with the dog she’s getting soon — fingers crossed.
Find Abbie on Threads @abbieb.call or contact her at [email protected].