Monster Mansion: This Is The House That Monsters Built by Steve Metzger and Jared Lee

THIS IS THE SPOOKY HOUSE THAT MONSTERS BUILT.

THIS IS THE MUMMY THAT RAISED THE WALL.
THIS IS THE SPIDER THAT STARTED TO CRAWL,
THAT SHOCKED THE MUMMY WHO RAISED THE WALL,
INSIDE THE HOUSE THAT MONSTERS BUILT.

Haunted Halloween houses don't just happen, you know!

When it is time for that moldy old mansion to have a remodeling, the creepy crew takes on the task. But, being a rather gruesome group, they can't help spooking each other.

Werewolf is unsettled by the skeleton crew installing the flooring, and when a ghost lets out a big BOO, the black cat's yowl frightens the bats decorating the trendy exposed beams, spooks the zombie re-vamping the stairs, and gives the old witch a start as she's cooking up some brew for the crew.

As with most renovations, things don't go smoothly, but the monster makeover is finally done just in time for trick or treaters to enjoy the monster mash, in Steve Metzger's This Is the House That Monsters Built (Scholastic Books, 2016).

THESE ARE THE KIDS WHO YELLED, "TRICK OR TREAT!"

THAT WOKE UP THE VAMPIRE WHO TRIPPED OFF HIS FEET.

Author Metzger re-visits the old folk song "The House That Jack Built" with some revamped verses, in a cumulative tale filled with jolly rhyming triplets that manage to include most of the usual suspects you'd expect to show up for any festive All Hallow's Eve do.

Artist Jared Lee, who honed his creepy craft on the illustrations for Lucille Colandro's popular There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat! and the many There Was An Old Lady seasonal tales and Mike Thaler's The Teacher from the Black Lagoon and ubiquitous sequels, adds his scratchy, quirky pen and ink drawings, a just-right accompaniment for Metzger's rollicking rhymes. A sure-fire read-aloud for the spooky season.