Welcome to our monthly book recommendations for October 2026! We read a wonderful array of spooky tales last month that are perfect for sharing. The spooks may now be gone, but these fantastic books live on – here’s what we were reading in October!
Fiction
Olivia Shivers, Spooky Special Agent – Derek Keilty and Louis Ghibault (pub. Scallywag Press)
Scaredy-cat Olivia is eager to meet the local author visiting her school, Little Wuthering Primary, but when she does meet him, she knows something isn’t quite right.
It’s only when she talks to grandpa and he reveals that he’s a secret agent for SCARE (Spook Capture and Rehabilitation Enterprises) that she finds out she’s inherited his Spook Sense for detecting ghosts!
When he’s kidnapped right in front of her and her best friend Roop, they know they have to rescue him. But can Olivia be brave and find the help they need?
With a great balance between spooks and spies, and some great drawings full of fun and life, this is the first in a slightly spooky new chapter series by the author of Ivy Newt – who we promise isn’t a ghost!
Pomona: Stories of the Cat Witch – Tor Freeman (pub. Guppy Books)
Pamona the Cat Witch lives in a small village in the forest with her pet caterpillar, in this lovely and warm collection of short stories for young readers.
Each tale is filled with kindness and empathy as Pamona manages the problems her and her friends face with common sense and wisdom.
The illustrations perfectly capture the characters and the gentle pace of the stories with a calm, natural palette, making the whole book a joy to read and share.
Non-Fiction
Spooky Rivers – Geo Rutherford (pub. Abrams Books for Young Readers)
Now for something a little different, but still giving the eerie thrill that accompanies this time of year!
This second title in the series ‘Haunted Hydrology’ looks at 25 rivers across the world that are not all they seem. Here you will come across waterways you really wouldn’t want to swim in: from rivers of lava, to a river in England that, it’s said, no-one has survived falling into. There’s plenty of toxic rivers to visit here, and even a river in Canada with ‘zombie’ salmon!
Each page features brightly coloured pictures and backgrounds that combine with the research to produce a fascinating journey across the world, peering into the murky depths of some truly unpleasant waterways.
Live Like An… Ancient Greek – Claire Saunders and Wesley Robins (pub. Button Books)
A cheeky addition from September, but it’s great to see another title added to the outstanding history series ‘Live Like A’.
This one on Ancient Greece gives the reader a timeline from 800 BCE to the end of the Hellenistic Period, which includes the first Olympic Games, the Iliad being created, and the introduction of democracy. Children can see the great thinkers that were alive then and the world they lived in, all in bitesize, easy-to-read sections.
With clear illustrations of Greek homes, fashion and food, as well as activities to try, this is a must for school topics and for any budding historians!
Thank you Paul at GMC Group for our copy.
Picture Books
Here a Creak, There a Shriek! – Kelly Conroy and Nikolas Ilic (pub. Little Tiger)
Three children go off to explore Old McSpooky’s Farm – and there’s a lot of surprises in store for them in this Halloween rendition of the classic Old MacDonald had a Farm rhyme!
The pictures capture the eeriness of the farm without being too frightening for young readers by using super striking, almost neon, colours, with a brilliant party scene at the end that ties everything together.
Full of ghostly sounds that children will love to join in with, and a ‘Eeek-I, Eeek-I, Oh!’ chorus, this will certainly be read again and again!
Midnight Creep – Jemima Shafei-Ongu and Honoka Taki (pub. Barefoot Books)
What do spiders do when the giants are asleep? PARTY!!
With bold, bright illustrations that perfectly capture the energetic activity of the varied arachnids involved as they play, dance and prepare food, this is a joyful celebration of not just spiders, but also Arab music and the Dabke, a lively Levantine communal folk dance that uses kicks and stomps (though there are many regional variations).
Don’t miss the spider, Dabke, and musical instrument facts at the back of the book, and make sure to use the QR code to hear the song, see the animation, and join in the dance!
There’s a Ghost in My Toaster – Tom Phipps and Charlie Swan Pullin (pub. Tiny Tree Books)
This is a great hit with my young grandson, packed full of fun, ghosts and not too many scares!
Everyday’s toasted breakfast is different, as are all the wonderfully-illustrated ghosts who pop out of the toaster, each with their own character. Grumpy, sporty or party, every ghost is different but all of them need to be removed from the house before the weekend.
Children can join in with the days of the week and the daily countdown until breakfast is ready in this silly, colourful, shout-along story!
And the ending? Sorry, no spoilers here!
Serial Thrillers
We couldn’t finish this roundup without mentioning the new additions to some of the spooky series we’ve reviewed and loved. So here goes (in author order), with links to our reviews for their previous books so you can catch up!
Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun (Scare B’n’B) – Catherine Doyle and Rachael Dean (Bloomsbury Children’s Books) – https://www.libraries4schools.com/2026/06/08/book-recommendations-may-2026/
Most Haunted Hotels (Most Haunted) – Yvette Fielding and Hannah Shaw (Andersen Press) – https://www.libraries4schools.com/2024/04/02/book-recommendations-march-2024/
Mallory Vayle and Maggoty Skull in the Castle of Horrors – Martin Howard and Pete Williamson (Nosy Crow) – https://www.libraries4schools.com/2024/10/11/book-recommendations-sep-2024/
The Ghosts of Grey Towers (The Night House Files) – Dan Smith and Luke Brookes (Barrington Stoke) – https://www.libraries4schools.com/2025/02/20/deadsoul-project-book-review/
The Ghosts in the Library (Lockett & Wilde) – Lucy Strange and Pam Smy (Walker Books) – https://www.libraries4schools.com/2024/10/11/book-recommendations-sep-2024/
That’s it for October’s recommendations – join us on Threads/Instagram, Bluesky, or Twitter/X to let us know what you’ve been reading!
If any of the books have grabbed your attention, you can pick up a copy of them via our recommendations list below.
(Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.)
If you’re looking for more book round-ups, check out our previous reviews here.
