Picture Books for the Delightful, Frightful, Celebratory Fall Season

October is my favorite month, with leaves creating a tapestry of glorious colors, pumpkins popping up here, there, and everywhere, costumed kiddos knocking at my door, and the cool temps inviting me to break out my sweater collection. But the most splendid reason of all? My son’s birthday falls in this glorious month! I hope you enjoy three picture books I’ve chosen to honor the delightful, frightful, celebratory Fall season.

Let’s begin with my DELIGHTFUL choice:

THE LEAF THIEF, with its glorious autumn backdrop, is written by Alice Hemming and illustrated by Nicola Slater.

The story and pictures are both delightful, so how could I resist? Squirrel gets increasingly frantic as he searches everywhere for his missing leaf. For him, as well as for many human children, impending change is scary! Just look at at squirrel’s giant eye and imagine how expressive it can become. Indeed, eyes poking here, there, and everywhere will make your kids howl. And just look at that bushy tail!, which has a life of its own! As if all that weren’t enough, there’s also bonus material at the end for curious kiddos and adults to explore.

Brace yourself: It’s time for my FRIGHTFUL choice:

My frightful choice is a noir-ish thriller that won’t scare the (under)pants off young children by the dynamic duo of Aaron Reynolds (words) and Peter Brown (pictures). CREEPY PAIR OF UNDERWEAR! is part of a Creepy Tales trio that includes CREEPY CARROTS! and CREEPY CRAYON! should the kiddos beg for more.

Jasper Rabbit, shown on the cover, eschews plain, boring white undies in favor of undies with a Frankenstein-esque face. Though Mom thinks they’re creepy, Jasper thinks they’re cool…and they are at first. While the surprised expression on his face gives a clue, you’ll have to read this with your little ones to find out what happens. After all, I wouldn’t dare ruin the darkly humorous surprise!

(Drumroll, please!) It’s high time for my CELEBRATORY choice!

TEN RULES OF THE BIRTHDAY WISH, by author Beth Ferry and illustrator Tom Lichtenheld, inspires a fun way for families and classrooms to celebrate birthdays – in October or any time of year. Are these rules dry and boring? Not in the least! Kids will howl when rhino’s horn pops a birthday balloon, and they’ll marvel about how a bug’s birthday reflects its limited lifespan. Those are just two of the interesting tidbits kids will learn about animals while enjoying ten tenets of the sacred birthday wish. In my animal-loving opinion, who wouldn’t enjoy celebrating their birthday with such adorable, intriguing, and festive guests ?!?

I hope you enjoyed my picture book selections, whether your Fall season is delightful, frightful, celebratory or a mixture of all three. If YOU have an October birthday, I offer you an extra special birthday wish for a happy, healthy, creative year ahead.

What are your favorite delightful, frightful, celebratory picture books? Please share with all of us!