‘Tis the season for slightly creepy picture book read alouds. Here are five recent picks that have gone over well in my K-4 school library.

Creepy Pair of Underwear! by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Peter Brown.

The last time this author/illustrator pair made a book together – Creepy Carrots – it won a Caldecott honor. This sequel doesn’t disappoint – a bit creepy, a lot funny, and a worthy successor.

The Scariest Book Ever by Bob Shea

Where do you do after The Happiest Book Ever? If you’re Bob Shea, you go scary. Although, since it’s Bob Shea, it still ends up being hilarious. It’s the first book I’ve seen that features both:

1. Real talk about the creepiness of the word “moist”.
2. A naked ghost.

I Want to Be in a Scary Story by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Jean Jullien

Not just metafiction – s p o o k y metafiction. Little monster wants to be in a scary story, but everything seems just too scary for the little guy. Until he turns the tables on the narrator (and the reader). Librarian Julie Jurgens recently told me she has kids read the little monster parts – a stroke of story time genius that I endorse.

Boo Who? by Ben Clanton

I’ve been reading this with the youngest students I see. A story about being the new kid, when the new kid is a ghost.

The Little Shop of Monsters by R.L. Stine, illustrated by Marc Brown

For some reason, I didn’t want to give this one a chance when it first came out, but now I’m a believer. The format is basically, “let’s meet a bunch of different monsters”, but it works so well. There are some genuinely gross and funny moments. And kids love it.