Boo! Little Goblins Ten by Pamela Jane

OVER IN THE FOREST
WHERE THE TREES HIDE THE SUN,
LIVED AN OLD MOTHER MONSTER
AND HER LITTLE MONSTER ONE.

"SCARE!" SAID THE MOMMY.
"I SCARE!" SAID THE ONE.
SO HE SCARED AND HE SCRAMBLED
WHERE THE TREES HID THE SUN.

What do mommy creepy creatures teach their little ones as Halloween approaches? Well, they teach them what they know best, how to be rightfully frightful.

In this new October classic, drawing on the well-known nursery song Over in the Meadow, made famous by Ezra Jack Keats, Pamela Jane creates a worthy successor for the fall season, Little Goblins Ten. (Harper, 2011). Worthily paired with illustrator Jane Manning, Jane provides catchy alliterated or rhymed verbs to the jolly versification of the original, and gives this old form new life:

"CACKLE!" SAID THE MOTHER WITCH.
"WE CACKLE," SAID THE SIX.
AND THEY CROWED AND THEY CACKLED
IN A HOVEL MADE OF STICKS.

Zombies stare, bats swoop, werewolves howl and growl, and ghosties haunt, and all polish up their acts, getting in the groove for their upcoming performances on that eerie eve:

"TRICK OR TREAT?" SAID THE MOMMY.
"TREAT!" SAID THE ONE.
SO THEY SKIPPED OFF TOGETHER
FOR SOME HALLOWEEN FUN.

Publishers Weekly gives this one ten cackles, too, adding "... Trust the team of Jane and Manning to conjure up an impressive new vision in time for Halloween."