Autumn Festivals: Book Recommendations for Grades 3-8+

1. Day of the Dead

Ancona, George. 1993. Pablo Remembers: The Fiesta of the Day of the Dead. NY: HarperCollins.

Amado, Elisa. 1999. Barrilete: A Kite for the Day of the Dead. Illustrated by Joya Hairs. Toronto: Groundwood Books.

Goldman, Judy. 2008. Uncle Monarch and the Day of the Dead. Illustrated by Rene King Moreno. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press.

Johnston, Tony. 2000. Day of the Dead. Illustrated by Jeanette Winter. NY: Sandpiper.

Keep, Richard. 2008. Clatter Bash! A Day of the Dead Celebration. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree Publishers.

Krull, Kathleen. 1994. Maria Molina and the Days of the Dead. Illustrated by Enrique O. Sanchez. NY: Simon & Schuster.

Vicente, Luis San. 2002. Festival of Bones/El Festival de las Calaveras:  The Little-Bitty Book for the Day of the Dead. El Paso. TX: Cinco Puntos Press.

Winter, Jeanette. 2004. Calavera Abecedario: A Day of the Dead Alphabet. Cambridge, MA: North-South Book.

2. Halloween

Behn, Harry. 2003. Halloween. Illustrated by Greg Couch. NY: North-South Books.

Bowers, Sharon. 2009. Ghoulish Goodies. Storey Books. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aGMe1VwBbA

Choi, Yangsook. 2006. Behind the Mask. NY: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux.

Hamilton, Virginia. 2004. Wee Winnie Witch’s Skinny. Illustrated by Barry Moser. NY: Blue Sky Press.

Heiligman, Deborah. 2009. Holidays Around the World: Celebrate Halloween. Washington D.C.: National Geographic.

from The Three Witches

Hurston, Zora Neale. 2006. The Three Witches. Adapted by Joyce Carol Thomas. Illustrated by Faith Ringgold. NY: HarperCollins.

Merrian, Eve. 1987. Halloween ABC. NY: Simon & Schuster.

From Los Gatos Black on Halloween

Montes, Marisa. 2006. Los Gatos Black on Halloween. Illustrated by Yuyi Morales. NY: Henry Holt.

Nikola-Lisa, W. 1997. Shake Dem Halloween Bones. Illustrated by Mike Reed. NY: Houghton Mifflin.

RavenWolf, Silver. 1999. Halloween: Customs, Recipes & Spells. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide.

 

3. Harvest Festivals/Autumn

Bruchac, Joseph (Abenaki). 2007. Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving. Illustrated by Greg Shed. NY: Sandpiper.

Jackson, Ellen.  2003. The Autumn Equinox: Celebrating the Harvest. Illustrated by Jan Davey Ellis. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook Press.

Lee, Uk-Bae. 1999. Sori’s Harvest Moon Day: A Story of Korea. Norwalk, CT: Soundprints.

Leslie, Clare Walker and Frank E. Gerace. 2000. The Ancient Celtic Festivals: And How We Celebrate Them Today. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International.

Levenson, George. 2002. Pumpkin Circle. Photographs by Shmuel Thaler. San Francisco, CA: Tricycle.

Lin, Grace. 2010. Thanking the Moon: Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. NY: Knopf.

O’Neill, Catherine. 2004. 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving. Washington D.C.: National Geographic.

Pfeffer, Wendy. 2006. We Gather Together. Illustrated by Linda Bleck. NY: Dutton Juvenile.

Russell, Ching Yeung. 1997. Moon Festival. Illustrated by Christopher Zhong-Yuan-Zhang. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press.

Tan, Amy 1995. The Moon Lady. Illustrated by Gretchen Shields. NY: Aladdin.

Tang, Sanmu. 2008. Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival. Translated by Mina Tenison. Better Link Press.

Williams, Brenda. 2009. Lin Yi’s Lantern: A Moon Festival Tale. Illustrated by Benjamin Lacombe. Cambridge, MA: Barefoot Books.

4. Scary Stories (Grades 3 – 8+)

From Coraline

Bellairs, John. 2004. The House with a Clock in Its Walls. Illustrated by Edward Gorey. NY: Puffin.

Gaiman, Neil. 2009. Coraline: The Graphic Novel. Illustrated by P. Craig Russell. NY: Harper Collins.

----------------. The Graveyard Book. Illustrated by Dave McKean. NY: HarperCollins.

Gidwitz, Adam. 2011. A Dark Tale and Grimm. NY: Puffin.

From La Llorna/The Weeping Woman

Priestly, Chris. 2007. Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror. Illustrated by David Roberts. NY: Bloomsbury.

Hayes, Joe. 2006. La Llorna/The Weeping Woman. Illustrated by Mona Pennypacker. Translated by Bicki Trego Hill. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press.

-------------. 2003. El Cucuy: A Bogeyman Cuento. Illustrated by Honorio Robeledo. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press.

Riggs, Ransom. 2011. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Philadelphia, PA: Quirk Books.

SanSouci, Robert D. 2010. Haunted Houses (Are You Scared Yet?). Illustrated by Kelly Murphy and Antoine Revoy. NY: Henry Holt.