10 NOT TOO SCARY HALLOWEEN BOOKS IN GERMAN - FOR ALL YEAR ROUND
Halloween has no long tradition in Germany. But it is getting more common. And scary stories are always popular!
So here are some of my recommendations what to read for Halloween and for lovers of ghosts, witches and other creatures all year round!
Axel Scheffler
PIP UND POSY - DAS GRUSELMONSTER
For the smallest this is a very cute board book, that is not scary despite its title. Pip is busy baking when she sees a terrible monster. Or so she thinks. But when she looks more closely, it is her friend Posy in his Halloween costume!
Pip und Posy are the perfect start to little short narratives and stories - and kids love them.
2 years and up
Nadia Budde
LETZTE RUNDE GEISTERSTUNDE
If you don't know Nadia Budde's incredibly funny and original and colorful books - all in rhyme - this board book is a great start. All kinds of ghosts - with weaknesses and ticks just like humans - show up adn we learn how they move, where they come from, their work.... Great fun for little kids and older ones (and adults) alike
2 years and up
Julia Donaldson /Axel Scheffler
FÜR HUND UND KATZ IST AUCH NOCH PLATZ
This modern classic is not really scary (or just the tiniest bit). The witch is actually nice (though she looks very much like a witch!), who offers room on her broom to various animals helping her when she loses something on her ride. But then she loses the broom and gets in trouble...
Witty rhyme, a tale on helping others and fun illustrations by the team of the Grüffelo!
3 years and up
Werner Holzwarth / Daniel Kratzke
ANGST VOR NIX?
In this book we learn about kids who are scared of something. Only Franz laughs about them all and brags: he is not afraid of anything.. A very fresh, modern take in cool rhyme of the Grimm fairy tale The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was... It offers lots of talking points!
4 years and up
Guido van Genechten
KEINER GRUSELT SICH VOR GUSTAV
Gustav is a pink ghost who is doing fairly well at the school for ghosts... there is just one thing he really doesn't like and is not good at all: shouting BOOO. All he manages is a faint Baa which gets a few laughs. Unfortunately he is also sent to time out for his meek try at scaring. Locked up in an abandoned tower he gets to know a cat delighted to meet him and they become friends. Beautiful picture book about being different, staying true to yourself and friendship.
3 years and up
Barbara Cantini
MORTINA. EIN MÄDCHEN VOLLER ÜBERRASCHUNGEN
Mortina is different from other kids. She is deadly pale, has purple shadows under her eyes and can yank off parts at will - she is a zombie girl. She lives with her aunt Departita and her only friend, an albino dog called Mesto - and is terribly lonely. She is not allowed to leave the grounds of the villa and so can never meet with other children, though she hears them talking when they pass by. But when Halloween comes up she has a brillant idea: She will pretend to be a kid in a Zombie costume. All goes well, she even makes friends! But then she yanks off her head..
Lovely illustrations and a tale on being different and still accepted make this a great read-aloud or beginning readers chapter book.
It is the first of series, 4 more volumes have been published at date.
6 years and up
Axel Rühle
ZIPPEL, DAS WIRKLICH WAHRE SCHLOSSGESPENST
Who wouldn't like to have a tiny ghost as a friend? Paul is delighted when he finds Zippel in the lock of his family's apartment. Paul is often teased by other kids in his class and usually comes home on his own to an empty apartment, while his parents work, so a ghost friend is a true improvement. But then the lock should be exchanged with a brand new one with no room even for the tiny Zippel...
A great read aloud and chapter book in the vein of the classics DAS SAMS and Pumuckl, with some unexpected twists.
Volume 2 is out now, too.
6 years and up.
Angela Sommer-Bodenburg
DER KLEINE VAMPIR UND DIE GRUSELNACHT
Der kleine Vampir is a modern classic series, 18 volumes were published in the 80ies and it probably was the first of its kind in German children's literature. This is volume 19, that was published with quite a lag between the last. The little Anton is still into vampires that generally have become more fashionably at least as a theme. When the local library offers a nocturnal hike, he and his friends sign up immediately. At first Anton worries it might be a boring event, but then he discovers the walk will be in the cemetery. Will he be able to protect the other kids from the vampires? When he learns that two vampire hunters are on board as well, he gets alarmed! A truly suspenseful read!
(The previous volumes are great too, a little less eery and adequate for slightly younger kids).
8 years and up
Cornelia Funke
GESPENSTERJAEGER AUF EISIGER SPUR
If you are looking for well written, suspenseful and spooky chapter books, that include a message, Cornelia Funke is always a good bet. She was just awarded the prestigious DEUTSCHER JUGENDBUCHPREIS for her entire works, and almost all of her books are bestsellers. In this book, an averagely scary ghost called Hugo is hiding in Tom's basement, dripping slime. Why? He is on the run from a terribly spooky ghost. Tom is scared of basements, the dark and spiders - and even more so of ghosts! To help Hugo, he overcomes his fears. And luckily for both of them Tom's grandmother has a friend who just happens to be a ghost hunter!
8 years and up.
Sonja Kaiblinger
SCARY HARRY - VON ALLEN GUTEN GEISTERN VERLASSEN
The 11 year old Otto is a little different from others, he lives with his aunt Sharon, loves reading and his pet is a bat. His most unusual characteristic though is his ability to see ghosts - and he is friends with the ghosts in his aunt's house.. One day he observes the neighbor next door pass away - and to his surprise no ambulance shows up, instead a reaper in a minivan. HIs name is Scary Harry. And Scary Harry is fed up with his job, low pay, lots of hours, boring and stressful at the same time. He catches the souls of the freshly dead and through the clock in aunt Sharon's house.
Things take a new turn, when the ghosts in his aunt house disappear and Otto's name suddenly is to be found on Scary Harry's list of souls.
Volume 1 of a series that is a really fun (and little but macabre) read.
10 years and up
