Scaredy Squirrel Scared Silly (Scaredy's Nutty Adventures, Book 4)

Written and illustrated by Mélanie Watt

Tundra Books

978-1-77488-884-1 (pb)

84 pp.

Ages 4–8 

July 2026

 

I didn't get a chance to review this book of Scaredy's Nutty Adventures when it was released as a hardcover in 2024, so I'm pleased to review it now that a paperback edition was just released this month. When Scaredy Squirrel was first released in 2006, he became a beloved character. Mélanie Watt brought us a little squirrel who was overwhelmed, seeing threats everywhere. Now the star of his own animated series, as well as picture books and this early reader graphic novel series, Scaredy Squirrel is a much beloved character to helps young children see beyond their worries by laughing with him.

From Scaredy Squirrel Scared Silly, written and illustrated by Mélanie Watt

In Scaredy Squirrel Scared Silly, Mélanie Watt shares five short graphic stories about Scaredy and his relationship with Halloween. In the first chapter, titled "October 31st," our sciurine friend is actually looking forward to the un-scary aspects of the holiday. He likes the decorations and the lighting, but he's terrified of haunted houses, crows, vampire bats, and more. So, he's happy to stay in his cheerfully decorated tree, along with some unusual preventative measures.

From Scaredy Squirrel Scared Silly, written and illustrated by Mélanie Watt

The next stories have Scaredy planning a cute, but not scary pumpkin carving activity with his friends, working on his costume, considering going trick-or-treating—hard candy, gummy worms, and chocolate all have drawbacks—before heading out in search of candy apples.

From Scaredy Squirrel Scared Silly, written and illustrated by Mélanie Watt

It may seem a little early to be thinking of Halloween, but I suspect there are many for whom the holiday is a big deal and who are already planning their costumes and parties. Whether you get Scaredy Squirrel now in anticipation of the holiday or keep it to read in October, Scaredy Squirrel Scared Silly will give young children a lot of laughs about his wacky but legitimate worries. Scaredy Squirrel may seem like an excessive bundle of anxiety, but he emulates the many children who have misgivings and fears about the familiar and the unknown. With a lighthearted approach and quirky and colourful illustrations, Mélanie Watt will let children see that many anxieties can be lessened and even alleviated with some friendly intervention and a new perspective.

From Scaredy Squirrel Scared Silly, written and illustrated by Mélanie Watt

Mélanie Watt's Scaredy Squirrel will always charm. She has created him as sweetly guileless—check out his toothy grin—and oddly expressive. And with detailed illustrations that give young readers much to enjoy, from costumes to decorated homes, readers will be looking forward to their own nutty Halloween adventure and all that it entails.

 

🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 

 

This is Book 4 in Scaredy's Nutty Adventures series. Here are all published titles:

Scaredy Squirrel in a Nutshell (2021)
Scaredy Squirrel Gets a Surprise (2022)
Scaredy Squirrel Gets Festive (2023)

Scaredy Squirrel Scared Silly (2024) 

Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round

Written by Rosanna Battigelli

Illustrated by Tara Anderson

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-092-5

24 pp.

Ages 3-6

September 2019

Get ready for some Halloween festivities with Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round and engage young children in the Halloween holiday with only the fun and delight, and none of the fear or creepiness so pervasive in the celebrations of older trick-or-treaters.

Whether you're a parent or teacher, you'll know of the annual October visit to the pumpkin patch to pick out a perfect pumpkin or two for Halloween night.  In lively rhyming verse of two word phrases that always begin with the word "pumpkin", Rosanna Battigelli welcomes the reader to participate in the sensory experience of that pumpkin path visit  and the subsequent carving of the jack-o'-lantern (instructions for "You Can Carve a Jack-o-Lantern Too!" are included on the endpapers), without the travel or the mess.

From Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round by Rosanna Battigelli, illus. by Tara Anderson

From Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round by Rosanna Battigelli, illus. by Tara Anderson

Then, just as so many children will be doing on October 31st, the felines of Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round prepare for their costumed foray into the neighbourhood for a bit of trick-or-treating.

Pumpkin mask,
pumpkin dare,
pumpkin candy,
pumpkin scare!

From Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round by Rosanna Battigelli, illus. by Tara Anderson

Finally they return home to a snack, a story and bed.

So many children love Halloween for the dress-up and the candy but little ones rarely get into the scary aspects of the day and, for those many children, Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round is a perfect holiday read. Its light rhyme will get children repeating the text, first predicting and ultimately reading, with its metrical melody of syllabic fun. Rosanna Battigelli has pitched her first picture book perfectly for the very young, ensuring a fun read that invites them to take on their own reading.

Illustrator Tara Anderson's bio shares that she has cats at home and perhaps that explains why she knows these feline wonders so well, anthropomorphizing them into playful children of diversity. They vary in colour and size, expression and activity and present the enjoyment of a special day spent with family and friends. Her artwork, coloured pencil and acrylic glaze on watercolour paper, emphasizes the bright oranges and complementary purple of the pumpkins and the night, exuding playfulness and caring. Her characters are adorable, the days and night comforting, and the action enthralling.

Young children may not know that costumes and jack-o'-lanterns were originally used to ward off spirits on All Hallows' Eve but they do know the joy of pumpkin picking and carving and dressing up and procuring oodles of candy and, with Rosanna Battigelli and Tara Anderson's picture book, they can do so on many nights before and after October 31st.

From Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round by Rosanna Battigelli, illus. by Tara Anderson

Spooky youngCanLit Reads for Halloween

Whether you're looking for a funny Halloween read for your youngest readers (or listeners), historical reads with an edge, a frightening young adult novel, or some true ghost stories, this list of youngCanLit reads has something for everyone. And, while I couldn't include everything, there are several authors whom I would recommend for anything spooky: L. M. Falcone (for a middle-grade fun read); Arthur Slade (for a middle-grade evil); Kelley Armstrong, the queen of queasy (for young adult); and Alyxandra Harvey, who rocks YA vampires. Take your pick!


PICTURE BOOKS

Black and Bittern Was Night
Written by Robert Heidbreder
Illustrated by John Martz
Kids Can Press
32 pp.
Ages 5-8
2013

Boo!
Written by Robert Munsch
Illustrated by Michael Martchenko
Scholastic Canada
32 pp.
Ages+
2004

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch 

Written by Megan Faulkner

Photographs by Adam Krawesky
Scholastic Canada
30 pp.
Ages 6-10

2006

Franklin's Halloween
Written by Paulette Bourgeois
Illustrated by Brenda Clark
Kids Can Press
32 pp.
Ages 5-8
1996

Ghost Train
Written by Paul Yee

Illustrated by Harvey Chan
Groundwood Books
Ages 8-12

1996

The Haunted House That Jack Built
Written by Helaine Becker
Illustrated by David Parkins
Scholastic Canada
32 pp.
Ages 4-7
2010

Omar’s Halloween
Written and illustrated by Maryann Kovalski
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
32 pp.
Ages 2-6
2006

Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round
Written by Rosanna Battigelli
Illustrated by Tara Anderson
Pajama Press
24 pp.
Ages 3-6
2019

Pumpkin People 

Written by Sandra Lightburn

Illustrated by Ron Lightburn
Nimbus
32 pp.

Ages 5-8

2008

Pup and Hound Scare a Ghost 
Written by Susan Hood

Illustrated by Linda Hendry
Kids Can Press
32 pp.

Ages 4-6

2007

What There is Before There is Anything There
Written and illustrated by Liniers
Translated by Elisa Amado
Groundwood Books
24 pp.
Ages 4-7
2014

CHAPTER BOOKS

Breath of a Ghost
Written by Anita Horrocks
Stoddart
195 pp.
Ages 9-12
1996

The Dead Kid Detective Agency

Written by Evan Munday
ECW Press
320 pp.
Ages 8-13
2011

The Devil, the Banshee and Me
Written by L. M. Falcone
Kids Can Press
192 pp.
Ages 9-12
2006

Dial "M" for Morna
Written by Evan Munday
ECW Press
296 pp.
Ages 8-13
2013

The Elevator Ghost
Written by Glen Huser
Illustrations by Stacy Innerst
Groundwood Books
168 pp.
Ages 7-12
2014

Five Days of the Ghost

Written by William Bell
Stoddart
196 pp.
Ages 10+

1989

Fred's Halloween Adventure
Written by Marie-Danielle Croteau
Illustrated by Bruno St-Aubin
Translated by Sarah Cummins
Formac
62 pp.
Ages 6-9
2002

The Ghost Horse of Meadow Green

Written by Anne Louise MacDonald

Kids Can Press

207 pp.

Ages 10-14

2005

Ghost Hotel (Arthur Slade's Canadian Chills series) 

Written by Arthur Slade
Coteau Books
134 pp.
Ages 9-13

2004

The Proof that Ghosts Exist (The Ghosthunters, Book 1)

Written by Carol Matas and Percy Nodelman
Key Porter
216 pp.
Ages 8-13
2008

The Curse of the Evening Eye (The Ghosthunters, Book 2)
Written by Carol Matas and Percy Nodelman
Key Porter
248 pp.
Ages 8-13
2009

The Hunt for the Haunted Elephant (The Ghosthunters, Book 3)

Written by Carol Matas and Percy Nodelman
Key Porter
272 pp.

Ages 8-13

2010

The Ghost and Max Munroe: Case #1 The Magic Box
Written by L. M. Falcone
Illustrated by Kim Smith
Kids Can Press
88 pp.
Ages 7-11
2014

Ghost Messages

Written by Jacqueline Guest
Coteau Books
184 pp.

Ages 9-12

2011

Ghosts of Government House

Written by Judith Silverthorne
Your Nickels Worth Publishing
114 pp.

Ages 9-12

2011

Ghost of Heroes Past
Written by Charles Reid
Ronsdale Press
168 pp.
Ages 10-14
2010

The Ghost of Lunenburg Manor (A Tom and Liz Austen Mystery)
Written by Eric Wilson
HarperCollins
109 pp.
Ages 9-11
1981/2003 

The Ghost of Northumberland Strait
Written by Lori Knutson
Dundurn
152 pp.
Ages 7-11
2008

The Ghost of Ramshaw Castle
Written by Robert Sutherland
Scholastic Canada
171 pp.
Ages 9-14
1990

The Ghost of the Stanley Cup (Screech Owl series)
Written by Roy MacGregor
McClelland & Stewart
118 pp.
Ages 9-13
2000

Ghost Ride
Written by Marina Cohen
Dundurn
172 pp.

Ages 11-13

2009

Ghosts of the Pacific
Written by Philip Roy
Ronsdale Press
251 pp.
Ages 11-14
2011

Ghosts of the Titanic
Written by Julie Lawson
Scholastic Canada
193 pp.

Ages 9-12

2011

Ghost Voyages
Written by Cora Taylor
Coteau Books
120 pp.
Ages 8-12
2003

Ghost Voyages II: The Matthew
Written by Cora Taylor
Coteau Books
112 pp.
Ages 8-12

2002

Ghost Voyages III: Endeavour and Resolution

Written by Cora Taylor

Coteau Books

176 pp.

Ages 8-12

2004

Ghost Voyages IV: Champlain and Cartier

Written by Cora Taylor

Coteau Books

128 pp.

Ages 8-12

2009

The Ghouls' Night Out
Written by Janice MacDonald

Illustrated by Pamela Breeze Currie
Ronsdale Press
49 pp.
Ages 7-9

1998

The Graveyard Hounds 
Written by Vi Hughes
Illustrated by Christina Leist
Tradewind Books
167 pp.
Ages 9-11
2008

Greysteel's Ghost
Written by Robert Sutherland
HarperTrophy Canada
176 pp.
Ages 8-13
2005

Haunted
Written by Barbara Haworth Attard
HarperCollins
273 pp.
Ages 10+
2009

The Haunting of Heck House (The Wiggins Weird, Book 2)
Written by Lesley Livingston and Jonathan LLyr
Puffin Canada
280 pp.
Ages 8-12
2014

The Improbable Party on Plum Lane (Babysitter Out of Control Series, Book 3)
Written by Margaret J. McMaster
Mansbridge Dunn Publishers
53 pp.
Ages 7-9
2011

Invasion of the IQ Snatchers (Arthur Slade's Canadian Chills)

Written by Arthur Slade

Coteau Books

Ages 9-13

120 pp.
2007

The Midnight Curse

Written by L. M. Falcone

Kids Can Press

208 pp.

Ages 8-12

2010

Never to be Told

Written by Becky Citra

Orca Book Publishers

217 pp.

Ages 9-12

2006

The Night Gardener
Written by Jonathan Auxier
Puffin
384 pp.
Ages 10+
2014

Northern Frights Trilogy

Written by Arthur Slade

HarperTrophy

352 pp.

Ages 10+

2014

Includes the original three books: Draugr, The Haunting of Drang Island and Loki Wolf

The Path of Trees
Written by Ari Goelman
Arthur E. Levine/Scholastic
399 pp.
Ages 10-12
2013

Return of the Grudstone Ghosts (Canadian Chills)

Written by Arthur Slade
Coteau Books
119 pp.
Ages 9-12

2002

The Secret of Grim Hill
Written by Linda DeMeulemeester
Lobster Press
187 pp.

Ages 9-13

2007

Shades: Tales of Fear and Wonder

Written by Arthur Slade
Dava Enterprises
79 pp.
Ages 11+
2011

Small Medium at Large
Written by Joanne Levy
Bloomsbury Children's Books
193 pp.
Ages 9-13
2012

That One Spooky Night
Written by Dan Bar-el
Illustrated by David Huyck
Kids Can Press
80 pp.
Ages 7-10
2012

The Unseen: Scary Stories

Written by Janet Lunn
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
171 pp.
Ages 9-14
1996

Walking with the Dead
Written by L. M. Falcone
Kids Can Press
200 pp.
Ages 9-12
2005

Zombiekins
Written by Kevin Bolger

Illustrated by Aaron Blecha
Razorbill 

206 pp.

Ages 8-11

2010

YOUNG ADULT

Beyond: A Ghost Story
Written by Graham McNamee
Wendy Lamb Books /Random House Canada
226 pp.
Ages 14-17
2012

The Summoning
Written by Kelley Armstrong
Doubleday
400 pp.
Ages 12+
2008

The Awakening
Written by Kelley Armstrong
Doubleday
368 pp.
Age 12+
2009

The Reckoning
Written by Kelley Armstrong
Doubleday
400 pp.
Ages 12+
2011

The Geomancer's Compass

Written by Melissa Hardy

Tundra Books

254 pp.

Ages 11-15

2012

Give Up the Ghost
Written by Megan Crewe
Henry Holt and Co. / H. B. Fenn
244 pp.
Ages 12-15
2009

Guardian

Written by Natasha Deen

Great Plains Teen Fiction

192 pp.

Ages 13+

2014

Haunted
Written by Barbara Haworth-Attard
HarperTrophy
288 pp.
Ages 12+
2009

Haunting Violet
Written by Alyxandra Harvey
Bloomsbury
352 pp.
Ages 12+
2012

The Horrors: Terrifying Tales: Book One
ed. by Peter Carver
Red Deer Press
184 pp.
Ages 13+

2005

The Horrors: Terrifying Tales: Book Two
ed. by Peter Carver
Red Deer Press
207 pp.
Ages 12+

2006

The Prank (Nate’s Journal)
Written by K.E. Calder
Vanwell
93 pp.
Ages 10-13
2003

The Serpent’s Spell
Written by Rae Bridgman
Great Plains
190 pp.
Ages 10-14
2006

Someone Else's Ghost

Written by Margaret Buffie

Scholastic

227 pp.

Ages 12+

1995

This Dark Endeavour (The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein)
Written by Kenneth Oppel
HarperTrophy Canada
304 pp.
Ages 12+
2011

Such Wicked Intent (The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein, Book 2)
Written by Kenneth Oppel
HarperTrophy Canada
320 pp.
Ages 12+
2012

This is Not a Test
Written by Courtney Summers

St. Martin's Griffin
326 pp.
Ages 13+
2012

NON-FICTION

100% Pure Fake
Written by Lyn Thomas
Kid Can Press
48 pp.
Ages 8-12

2009

Are You Afraid Yet?: The Science of Scary Stuff
Written by Stephen James O'Meara
Illustrated by Jeremy Kaposy
Kids Can Press
80 pp.
Ages 8-12
2009

Canadian Hauntings: A Haunted Canada Book
Written by Beth Scott and Michael Norman
Scholastic Canada
136 pp.
Ages 9-13
2009

Ghost Trackers: The Unreal World of Ghosts, Ghost-Hunting, and the Paranormal
Written by Chris Gudgeon
Tundra
75 pp.
Ages 10-13

2010

Ghosts of the World: True Tales of Ghostly Hauntings
Written by Susan Smitten
Lone Pine Publishing
232 pp.

Ages 13+

2006

Gotcha! Mystery Hunters: 18 Amazing Ways to Freak Out Your Friends
Written by David Acer
Illustrated by Stephen MacEachern
Kids Can Press
48 pp.
Ages 8-12
2008

Grim and Ghostly Stories: A Haunted Canada Book
Written by Pat Hancock and Allan Gould
Scholastic Canada
136 pp.
Ages 8-13
2006

Haunted Canada: True Ghost Stories
Written by Pat Hancock
Scholastic Canada
106 pp.
Ages 9-12
2003

Haunted Canada 2: True Tales of Terror
Written by Pat Hancock
Scholastic Canada
114 pp.
Ages 9-12

2005

Haunted Canada 3: More Ghost Stories
Written by Pat Hancock
Scholastic Canada 
128 pp.
Ages 9-12
2007

Haunted Canada 4: More True Tales of Terror
Written by Joel Sutherland
Scholastic Canada
128 pp.
Ages 9-12
2014

Haunted Canada: Ghost Stories
Written by Pat Hancock and Allan Gould
Illustrated by Andrej Krystoforski
Scholastic Canada
172 pp.
Ages 8-13
2014

Scary Science: 24 Creepy Experiments
Written by Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone
Illustrated by Ashley Spires
Scholastic Canada
48 pp.
Ages 8-13
2010

Strange and Spooky Stories: A Haunted Canada Book
Written by Pat Hancock
Scholastic Canada
128 pp.
Ages 8-13
2005

The Unexplained: A Haunted Canada Anthology
ed. by Janet Lunn
Scholastic Canada
160 pp.
Ages 9-13
2008

And my apologies for some inconsistency in the fonts and size.  Seems I have my own little cyber-ghost that keeps altering my font no matter how many times I clear the formatting.  

Happy Halloween!