Halloween

The Skeleton and the Cat / Brandon James Scott

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
The Skeleton and the Cat
By: Brandon James Scott
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Number of Pages: 64
Published: July 7, 2026
Publisher: HarperCollins
Dates Read: July 8, 2026
Format: Hardcover		ISBN: 9780063455887

Skeleton lives a simple, peaceful, lonesome life. She reads books, drinks tea, and tends her garden all by herself. Until one day, a cat knocks on Skeleton’s door asking to come in. At first, Skeleton says no, but Cat can tell some good jokes, so maybe they aren’t so bad to have around…

I’ve been following Brandon James Scott on Instagram for ages now and was counting down the days until I could grab this book when it came out.

This is such a sweet and wholesome book about a Skeleton Lady who basically gets adopted by Cat. Together they “eat” meals, read books, go on walks, and tend to the garden.

The artwork will give you all the feels, especially if you’re a fan of skeletons and cats. I’ve got various pages from the book as both my phone background and my apple watch’s background.

Overall, an all around enjoyable book for those of all ages – I dare you to try and read this and not smile at at least one of the pages!

Vampurr / Justin Colón, Lenny Wen (Illustrator)

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Vampurr
By: Justin Colón, Lenny Wen (Illustrator)
Genre: Children's, Picture Book
Number of Pages: 40
Published: July 7, 2026
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Dates Read: July 8, 2026
Format: Hardcover		ISBN: 9780374392802

Born in a cemetery under the blood moon, Vampurr’s fur is shiny black, her eyes glow bright green, and she has long, needle-sharp fangs. All her siblings were adopted right away, but because of her appearance and her abilities sent visitors running. Until one night when fog rolls in and an unexpected visitor comes with it.

This is a book that I saw in the publisher’s preview email and I didn’t even know what it was about to know I needed my own copy of it as soon as it came out.

This was adorable and I’m pretty sure I actually read it twice when I first opened it because of how cute the artwork was. But how could nobody want Vampurr?! This is a lie.

Overall, a delightful, sweet mix of spooky, beautiful picture book about finding the right family.

This Year, a Witch! / Zoey Abbott

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This Year, a Witch!
By: Zoey Abbott
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Number of Pages: 40
Published: July 15, 2025
Publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Dates Read: November 23, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

A little girl has been every cute and adorable thing you could imagine for Halloween – but this year, she’s putting a stop to it and being the scariest, spookiest thing out there… a witch!

With just a little help from her dad, the little girl prepares hard for new costume. She works on her hair, brews, spells and enchantments, and the power to petrify! But, what happens when the night finally comes and she sees herself in the mirror?

A sweet story with vibrant, colorful pages about growing up and learning independence – and how asking for help doesn’t mean you don’t have any.

Evelyn Witch Gets a Pet / Beth Ferry, Charles Santoso (Illustrator)

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Evelyn Witch Gets a Pet
By: Beth Ferry, Charles Santoso (Illustrator)
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Number of Pages: 32
Published: July 8, 2025
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Dates Read: October 20, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Evelyn Witch has everything a witch needs, except a pet! She can only afford the mystery pet, which opens to be a plain white egg. Now, she must wait for it to hatch!

As a librarian, I loved that Evelyn went to the library to research things she didn’t know. I also loved her ambition to help get her egg to hatch. She was doing everything she could think of to finally meet her pet!

The overall moral of this story is patience of course – Evelyn does everything she can think of to speed up the hatching, but once she realizes she just needs to wait, the egg finally hatches!

This story has eye-catching illustrations, fun, rhyming lines, and a spunky, eager child who just wants to meet her pet.

Meowl-o-ween / Diane Muldrow, Tiffany Chen (Illustrator)

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Meowl-o-ween
By: Diane Muldrow, Tiffany Chen (Illustrator)
Genre: Children’s, Holiday
Number of Pages: 41
Published: September 5, 2023
Publisher: Astra Young Readers
Dates Read: October 14, 2023
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Meowl-o-ween is about the neighborhood cats that move around the carved pumpkins and decorations in preparation of spooking the trick-or-treaters out on the streets. A lone kitten is overwhelmed by the crowds and gets separated from their mother.

Okay, this is just adorable. I couldn’t help myself.

A Halloween book with cats.

Adorable cats – with facial expressions and silliness.

I loved it.

Nice change of pace from the older books I was reading. Saw this in a librarian’s newsletter and immediately went and found it on our shelves.

Possibly going to buy myself my own copy – even though I don’t have kids, that’s how much I love it.