When my twins were little, we loved the Biscuit books by Alyssa Satin Capucilli and Pat Schories. These gentle stories all feature a cute, silly puppy named Biscuit and his owner. His owner is never named, but referred to as “the little girl”. These are great stories for emerging readers and younger children. Even the youngest child can say “woof, woof” along with biscuit. The illustrations are very heart warming. Here are three Biscuit books, perfect to read in this season.
Biscuit Visits the Pumpkin Patch is a sturdy board book. Very young children will enjoy this simple book. Biscuit and his owner visit a pumpkin patch. They load a few pumpkins in their wagon. It’s a great book for talking about sizes and comparisons. One pumpkin is for a jack o’lantern. Another is for making a delicious pie. As they search for pumpkins they also find their friend Puddles and a little bunny. (I bet your child can spot Puddles before Biscuit does!) They also paint a pumpkin. None of the pumpkin faces are scary. It’s a very gentle book. Biscuit and his owner return home with “lots of pumpkins and lots of friends, too”.
Biscuit’s Pet and Play Halloween is also a board book. This one has textures of soft fur, silk, scratchy fabric, slick plastic and rough burlap. It’s a fun book for talking about the sense of touch and about textures. There’s not much of a story line here. Biscuit is confused by a child wearing a cat costume. This could be a reassuring book for any children who are afraid of costumes.
Happy Halloween, Biscuit! is a fun lift-the-flap book. Biscuit and the little girl go trick or treating. They are in for all sorts of Halloween surprises. Small children will love guessing what happens next before the open the flap and find out. All the illustrations are gentle and not scary.
Biscuit books are repetitive, and Biscuit barks a lot. The little girl says “Silly puppy” a lot. But the repetition is part of the charm for very young book lovers.
More Halloween Books for Young Children:
A Tiger Called Thomas – Charlotte Zolotow
Dragon’s Halloween – Dav Pilkey