Alvin Schwartz Books in Order

This playful bestiary introduces strange creatures from American folklore, including beasts with impossible names and even stranger habits. It is funny, weird, and just spooky enough to spark the imagination.

Schwartz rounds up tongue twisters that trip the lips and reward repeated tries. It is a small festival of sound, speed, and cheerful frustration.

A straightforward look at what camping involves, from getting ready and setting up to cooking, exploring, and staying safe outdoors. It turns a family trip into something simple and inviting.

A practical introduction to hobbies and the many ways people use free time to collect, make, build, and learn. Schwartz treats leisure as something curious, creative, and worth exploring.

A fast, funny gathering of jokes, jests, and wisecracks from American folklore. It is built for kids who like punch lines, groaners, and the pleasure of repeating the best bits out loud.

This collection rounds up superstitions about luck, love, money, weather, sickness, and death. Schwartz shows how everyday beliefs can be funny, strange, and revealing at the same time.

Riddles, wisecracks, word tricks, and practical jokes make this a grab bag of verbal mischief. Schwartz keeps the tone breezy and encourages readers to try the fun on other people.

Here are tall tales and outrageous lies from American folklore, told with a straight face and a grin. Each story pushes exaggeration until it becomes the joke.

Using memories from people who were young around 1890 to 1914, Schwartz builds a mosaic of everyday life in the United States. Food, school, games, work, sickness, and celebrations all come through in vivid first-person glimpses.

Part phrase book, part folklore sampler, this book gathers colorful old expressions for weather, bragging, anger, gossip, and more. It is full of language that sounds alive in the mouth.

Nonsense rhymes, put-downs, visual jokes, and absurd little tales fill this cheerful anthology of kid-tested silliness. Schwartz captures the kind of humor that spreads from one child to another.

A collection of riddles that range from quick trick questions to puzzles that make you rethink every word. It is light, chatty, and hard to stop after just one page.

The book that started it all, this collection retells ghost stories, jump tales, songs, and urban legends from folklore. It mixes dread, dark humor, and perfect read-aloud timing.

Forty-six tongue twisters dare readers to say them faster and cleaner each time. The fun is in the sound, the stumble, and the sudden triumph when one finally clicks.

Six noodle tales follow a family of lovable fools whose simple errands turn into ridiculous mix-ups. The humor comes from literal thinking, bad counting, and the kind of mistake that gets funnier as it grows.

A lively collection of traditional riddles, from tricky questions to rebuses and word puzzles. It invites readers to guess fast, think sideways, and enjoy being stumped for a while.

Bears of every kind roam through this wide-ranging collection of legends, anecdotes, tall tales, and facts. Schwartz shows how one animal can be frightening, funny, and fascinating across many traditions.

Seven short tales, including the famous Green Ribbon, bring ghostly surprises and creeping suspense to beginning readers. Schwartz keeps the scares simple, quick, and perfect for reading after dark.

This second collection dives into ghosts, witches, jump stories, and creepy songs drawn from folklore. The stories are short, sharp, and built for campfire reading.

The Brown family returns in five cheerful stories of lovable fools who count wrong, misunderstand everything, and turn simple situations into nonsense. Schwartz retells noodle tales from several folk traditions with a steady read-aloud rhythm.

Clever cheats, fools, and fast talkers trade tricks in this collection of comic folktales. The pleasure is watching each scheme almost work, then spin into a bigger mess.

This book teaches thirteen secret languages and codes, from familiar playground patterns to stranger hidden ways of speaking. Half puzzle, half language game, it turns speech into a private club.

Schwartz collects love charms, dream signs, sayings, and superstitions people once used to predict the future. It is part folklore guide, part game book, and full of odd little ways people tried to guess what comes next.

Treasure maps, buried riches, pirate lore, and famous lost hoards fill this folklore-rich collection. Schwartz blends legend, history, and the thrill of the hunt.

Traditional folk rhymes, many of them silly or slightly rude in the way kids love, bounce through this easy reader collection. It captures playground humor in short, memorable bursts.

Seven easy-to-read ghost stories, drawn from folklore and legend, deliver quick chills without losing their sense of fun. It is a strong next step for younger readers who want spooky stories.

The final Scary Stories collection gathers folklore-based chills, eerie legends, and darkly funny tales meant to be read aloud. Several of the stories linger long after the last line.

Schwartz gathers folk poetry from many voices, including songs, chants, rhymes, and playground verse. It is one of his richest collections, playful on the surface and full of history underneath.

This illustrated collection gathers cat tales from folklore around the world, ranging from funny and sly to eerie and sharp-clawed. It is a good pick for readers who like animal stories with a bite.