Boo! Ten Trick or Treaters: A Halloween Counting Book by Janet Schulman

10 TRICK-OR-TREATERS

ON A DARK AND SPOOKY NIGHT,

OUT TO GET SOME CANDY

OR GIVE SOMEONE A FRIGHT.

It's the night for fun and fright, and the ten little merry makers are all suited up for the job--as a firefighter, pirate, dragon, fairy, monster, and the rest of the usual suspects--and with their treat bags in hand, they set out to get the goodies.

There's just one problem. They keep meeting up with others who are scarier than they are:

SEVEN TRICK OR TREATERS

FILLING BAGS WITH PARTY MIX,

ALONG CAME A GHOST...

AND THEN THERE WERE SIX.

The costumes are awesome, and the effect is attrition in the the ranks, as the number of jolly treat seekers drops (dropping their treats as well for the others to claim)--until there are just two left. Their rounds done and their bags full, they head back to their apartment building. But as the elevator opens, out pops a well-turned mummy, and one of the two remaining kids decides it's definitely time to split the scene.

One intrepid girl is left to take home the Halloween haul of her life. Back home she empties all the goodies all over her bedroom rug and bed and begins to count count up her collection of treats.

Veteran illustrator and author Janet Schulman's 10 Trick-or-Treaters (Dragonfly, 2008) has become one of the classic counting books of the Halloween season. Although the little Halloween goers manage to scare each other, the pictured ghosts and mummies are far from frightening, and the countdown in the story is augmented by a little appendix with plenty of holiday treats lined up for counting up at the end.

Schulman continues the fun in two like-themed little holiday counting books, 10 Trim-the-Tree'ers and 10 Easter Egg Hunters: A Holiday Counting Book.