Best Halloween books for children

Ten Little Monsters by Mike Brownlow

(Orchard Books, £6.99)

Ten little monsters set off in search of adventure and encounter plenty of ghosties and ghouls on their way. This lovely rhyming counting book offers all the fun of Halloween and trick or treating and none of the scare factor for younger readers.

Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones

(Harper Collins Children's Books, £7.99)

An epic novel steeped in old magic and a gathering sense of foreboding. Nine years ago, at Halloween, Polly gatecrashed a funeral party and met Thomas Lynn for the first time. They had lots of adventures together – or did they? Why has Tom been erased from Polly’s mind, and from the rest of the world as well?

Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski

(Puffin, £6.50)

The very first story starring classic picture-book characters Meg the witch and Mog and cat. After choosing clothes from her witch wardrobe and enjoying a witch's breakfast, Meg flies off to meet her witch friends for some spell-making at a Halloween party, but the spell doesn't exactly go according to plan...

Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

(Corgi, £7.99)

Psychic Investigations Agencies, a city stalked by spectres, a night in the most haunted house in England... there are spine-chilling moments a plenty in the first of the action-packed, thrilling and genuinely scary Lockwood & Co series for children aged 9+, but beware – it's not a read for the faint-hearted.

The Witches by Roald Dahl

(Puffin, £6.99)

They look ordinary. They behave like other women. But witches aren't ordinary at all. They have murderous, bloodthirsty thoughts and they hate children – and their leader, the Grand High Witch, is planning to make every child disappear forever... A deliciously terrifying and mesmerising book that every child should read (or have read to them while they hide under the covers!).

The Demon Undertaker by Cameron McAllister

(Corgi, £6.99)

A brilliant read for mystery lovers aged 9+, set in eighteenth-century London and featuring the teenage Bow Street Detectives. A kidnapper known as the Demon Undertaker is terrorising the streets on a horse-drawn hearse. Will young Thomas Fielding and his team manage to find him before he snatches his next victim? A real page-turner!

The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy

(Puffin, £5.99)

Before Harry Potter and Hogwarts there were Mildred Hubble and Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches in Jill Murphy's stories of a rather incompetent witch and her life at a magical boarding school. Perfect enchanted reading for children aged 5 to 9, this seven-book series chronicling Mildred's disastrous adventures is complemented by the author' s lovely black and white line drawings.

Molly Maybe and the Ghost Train by Kristina Stephenson

(Simon & Schuster, £6.99)

An amazing monster world mirrors ours, and the gutsy Molly Maybe is the only child who cam travel there (with her sidekick dog, Waggy Burns). In this adventure Molly investigates a terrible pong and finds it's the smell of fear in the Haunted Hollow. Luckily brave Molly knows there's nothing to be scared of...

Stories of Wizards and Witches by Enid Blyton

(£6.99, Hodder Children's Books)

A collection of 25 magical and mystical stories from Enid Blyton, bursting with wizards, witches, goblins, pixies, fairies, elves and spell-casting. A brilliant enchantment-filled compendium for newly confident readers. (Each story is stand-alone and the perfect length for reading at bedtime, so if your child enjoys the format and subject another similar story collection is Enid Blyton's Stories of Magic and Mischief.)

Goth Girl and the Sinister Symphony by Chris Riddell

(£6.99, Pan Macmillan)

Spooky and (obviously) Gothic but definitely funny rather than terrifying, the Goth Girl series from former Children's Laureate Chris Riddell is packed with tightrope-slipper-wearing heroines, psychic governesses and lords who are mad, bad and dangerous to gnomes. The elegant, intricately detailed illustrations are stunning and there's one on every page – the perfect words-and-pictures mix for KS2 readers. Sinister Symphony is the latest book in the series, but the first three (Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse, Goth Girl and the Fete Worse than Death, Goth Girl and the Wuthering Fright) are just as packed with literary references for Gothic-loving grownups and wonderfully-plotted silliness for younger readers. Enchanting (in a ghoulish kind of way).

Atlas of Monsters and Ghosts

(£12.99, Lonely Planet Kids)

Join monster hunter Van Helsing on a trip around the globe to find haunted castles, restless spirits, terrifying dragons, wicked witches, and beasts. Continent by continent, you'll be equipped to spot (and defeat) each creature, having learnt about its defining characteristics. Can you tell your orcs and trolls from your gremlins, krakens and bunyips?

The House of Madame M

(£17.99, Gecko Press)

Explore a strange house and peer into every dark, cobwebby nook and cranny in this pop-up book for dark and wintery nights. Does the house belong to an ogre? A witch? What spine-shivering surprises are lurking inside the cupboards and behind the doors? Young readers will pore over this spooky, thrilling read for hours to absorb every detail.

There’s a Ghost in this House by Oliver Jeffers

(£13.38, Harper Collins Children’s Books)

The new picture book from world-renowned artist Oliver Jeffers tells a ghost story with a difference by encouraging the reader to peek through transparent pages to spot the phantoms a little girl is searching for. Are they white with holes for eyes? Are they hard to see? Follow her on a ghost hunt through a mansion that's haunted... or is it? A lovely (non-scary) story to pore over with a young child.