Trick-or-Treat Feat! Me and My Dragon, Scared of Halloween by David Biedrzycki

ME AND MY DRAGON LOVE ALL THE SAME THINGS.

WE ENJOY ALL THE SAME STUFF--EXCEPT ...

I LOVE HALLOWEEN.

DRAGON? NOT SO MUCH.

The boy hopes that a bit of window shopping will fire Dragon's enthusiasm for dressing up for trick-or-treat. Walking along calmly on his leash, Dragon takes one look at the mummy, werewolf, and zombie in Eddie's Costume Shop window and flies down the storm drain on the street corner.

The boy tries a little bibliotherapy, reading to Dragon from books titled Ghosts Don't Say Boo! and My Friend Frank. He tries out a few costume ideas from 101 Costumes for Pets. The mummy costume is coming along fairly well until Dad, heading off to the bathroom with his newspaper, starts to fume when he notices where all the toilet paper has gone. His RoboDragon mask lacks visibility, Dragon freaks out at the sight of himself as a Zombie, and the cute little tutu his owner creates turns out not to be fireproof--not a feasible costume for a fire-breathing friend.

Almost out of ideas, our boy finally has a brainstorm. Why not take his pet out as the ultimate disguise--a dragon costume! Sometimes the simplest plan is the best, in David Biedrzycki's latest Me and My Dragon story, Me and My Dragon: Scared of Halloween (Charlesbridge, 2013). Set against Biedryzcki's deadpan narrator's style, the highlight of the story are the illustrations of his reluctant Dragon, hamming it up as a schlock-rock Elvis impersonator or scaring himself into the realm of the undead as a zombie. With lots of giggle bait within the illustrations, this story can be a fun cure for kids for whom those roaming Halloween "monsters" going from door to door are not exactly a treat.