October is a wonderful time to curl up on the couch and read the best pumpkin books with your children!
Before we kick off any unit of study, I always like to begin with a big stack of picture books. I place them all in a basket in the living room, near the couch. The girls browse through them often throughout the day, and make a list of activity ideas for later in the month.
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Our all-time favorite pumpkin book is Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell.
This classic book weaves a story about a boy named Tim and his jack o’lantern. My girls love this book and talk about it all winter long.
Best Pumpkin Books: Fiction
Another book we love is Pumpkin Day by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace.
The end pages show the pumpkin patch in all four seasons, and the book blends an adorable story about a mouse family with lots of additional resources like:
- recipes
- jokes
- parts of a pumpkin
- and the pumpkin life cycle
If you have a toddler, your family may enjoy Five Little Pumpkins by Dan Yacccarino. This sturdy board book is a great introduction to counting to five and would be fun to act out with your little one. (Note: this book does feature “scary” Halloween characters, like a ghost and witch.)
We also love The Biggest Pumpkin Surprise Ever! by Steven Kroll. This book has lots of flaps to lift, pumpkins to count, and an incredible amount of conversation starters for 3, 4, and 5 year olds.
Finally, if your children can handle a longer story, you might want to check out Peter Rabbit and Pumpkin Patch based on the stories by Beatrix Potter. This book features beautiful illustrations and great vocabulary–a sweet addition to any family library.
(Did you get your FREE pumpkin-themed invitations to play download?)
Best Pumpkin Books: Non-Fiction
While my girls love reading fiction, I think it’s important to include non-fiction text as well.
- Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden by George Levenson includes beautiful, real-life photographs from a pumpkin farm.
- Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie is another non-fiction book that features real-life photography from National Geographic.
These books are perfect for families who can’t make it to a patch in real life.
A few more pumpkin books for kids:
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, we like to store our unit books in an obvious, can’t-miss spot in the living room. Since we homeschool, we often use picture books instead of a textbook for science and history studies–but many of these books can also be enjoyed during family read-aloud time.
Did I miss any of the best pumpkin books? Share your recommendation below!
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