Ghostly Children's Picture Books

Or should I say Booooooo-ooks?

I made it through the 272 listings under "ghosts" and "children's picture books".

Well, it was a little more complicated than that. 

The library changed their search page and results started coming up differently. I was adapting to that, then I managed to find a link to the old page. I did searches with both to try and be complete.

There were some results that I did not read. For example, there were a bunch of Scooby-Doo books that were for putting words together, but I have seen the cartoons. There were also many children's versions of A Christmas Carol, with which I am already quite familiar. 

Still, I read a lot. I never did find the one where maybe the girl's mother was tricking her into thinking the house was haunted.

If you do follow me on Goodreads, you may know that my book count for the year is just over 300. No, I did not enter most of the books. 

There are a lot of children's books in that count, but I generally only enter children's books if they are especially good or culturally significant or something. Remember, a lot of children's books are just okay; there is nothing wrong with that. Going back through Goodreads now to see which ones stood out to me, not having entered all of them helps.

With that, some of my favorites were Hush, Baby Ghostling by Andrea Beaty, Ghastly Ghosts by Teresa Bateman, Leonard Builds a Haunted House by Tom Ciccotello, and, most of all, Ghost Cat by Kevan Atteberry.

As I get more into the YA and Middle Reader ghost books, there will be some common themes that become apparent.

In this case, the field was so broad that there were several subcategories.

There are many stories about shy, sweet ghosts. When I was a child in pediatrician waiting rooms, that was Robert Bright's Georgie, but he has since been joined by Gilbert the Ghost (Guido Van Genechten), Gustavo the Shy Ghost (by Flavia Z. Drago), and Jane Thayer's Gus Was a Friendly Ghost.

Clearly alliteration is a useful tool for making something non-threatening.

Making ghosts non-threatening is one way to help children deal with fears, but making ghosts scared (instead of scary) was another popular theme.  

This came up many times, but among the best were The Ghost Who Was Afraid of Everything by Nadia Ahmed and multiple books about The Teeny Tiny Ghost by Kay Winters. (I especially like how supportive his teacher is.) 

One that was not great but reasonably cute was Gracie Meets a Ghost by Keiko Sena. 

Nearsighted Gracie can't see the ghost well enough to be scared. He helps her find her glasses so he can scare her, but she gets them on just as the sun rises and he fades away. Her friendliness and optimism prevents the experience from being scary.

Friendliness and kindness were part of another theme that led to some of my favorites. Maybe the ghosts wanted to be difficult, but persistent good treatment (and sometimes asking the right questions) led to good outcomes.

That gives us Aggie and the Ghost, by Matthew Forsythe, The Bake Shop Ghost by Jacqueline K. Ogburn, and Boo Cowby Patricia Goehner Baehr. 

My sister actually bought Boo Cow after I showed it to her. Also Poultrygeist by Eric Geron. 

Related posts:

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2025/04/spooky-season-hodgepodge-and-hereafter.html