Don't Open That Door! In the Haunted House by Eve Bunting and Susan Meddaugh

THIS IS THE HOUSE WHERE THE SCARY ONES HIDE.

OPEN THE DOOR AND STEP SOFTLY INSIDE.

Who can resist the invitation to visit a haunted house? It's tall. It's dark. And the door is ajar.

Two kids take the challenge.

AN ORGAN IS PLAYING A FUNERAL AIR.

IT'S PLAYING AND PLAYING, BUT NOBODY IS THERE.

Only the running feet of the two children are seen, speedily exiting page right.

But there are more scary creatures to be revealed by strategically placed flaps. There's an old chest with a DO NOT LIFT sign, and of course the two kids must lift the lid, to reveal a rising Frankenstein monster. In an upstairs bedroom, a tall door hides--what else--a skeleton in the closet! There are touchy-feely flocked bats in the belfry, and a sleeping vampire in the old claw-footed bathtub. The kids make a quick tour, as evidenced by their retreating feet exiting each room, and finally their feet are seen clattering down the twisted stairway. But wait! What's there on the other side of the front door? Witches and a jack-o'-lantern? But beyond them the kids can see their waiting dad outside!

INTO THE DAY THAT IS A-SPARKLE WITH SUN.

HALLOWEEN HOUSES ARE OH-SO-MUCH FUN!

The Caldecott award-winning author Eve Bunting provides the catchy couplets and noted artist Susan Meddaugh, creator of the Martha Speaks series, combine talents in the spiffed-up and attractive paperback version of In the Haunted House Touch and Feel Lift-the-Flap Book (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013), a lift-the-flap book that provides youngsters a vicarious trip through a haunted house before they encounter one at a neighborhood Halloween carnival. Meddaugh's illustrations offer mildly spooky comic scenes with the clever device of never showing the children's reactions--just their sneakers, hot-footing it through the haunted house, to add to the fun. A nice Halloween treat, with rhyming lines that are easy to read aloud. Read this one with Eve Bunting's classic Scary, Scary Halloween, and the group-participation superstar, Linda D. Williams' wonderful The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. or Dav Pilkey's hilarious The Hallo-wiener. And for fans of Susan Meddaugh's Helen and Martha, there is her nifty Halloween story of the pre-alphabet soup Martha, The Witches' Supermarket. (8x8 with stickers) (Martha Speaks).