Spooky Treat: Five Silly Ghosts illustrated by Hilli Kushnir

Oh, dear! Who's that on brooms--high up in the air?

"BOO! I DON'T CARE!"

Little ghosts drift through the darkening sky. A big yellow moon rises high, and the small spirits seem to be all in costume--one with eyepatch and pirate hat, one with a red clown nose, one as a princess with crown and scepter, one in a tall black witch's hat, and one masked as a cat.

Little witches zoom, astride a broom.

But what are these fearless little specters up to?

These little ghosties are not scared. They are prepared--each one with a bright bag, a cauldron, or a plastic pumpkin. What do they want?

Treats and some fun for everyone!

It's a proper jolly All Hallow's Eve with black cats and black bats. And when the wind goes whooooo! and blows out the candles' light, with a bit of a fright the five silly ghosts decide to call it a night!

The scary season is coming soon, and we can count on some version of this jolly rhyming counting song to make an appearance to prepare youngsters for the fun and frivolities of the Halloween holiday season. This same counting rhyme appears in many versions--with five little pumpkins, five little goblins, five little black cats, et al--the characters change, but the rhythmic folk song format remains pretty much the same, with a bit of counting skills for toddlers and a lot of fun for youngsters to sing together.

In this brand new board book version, artist Hilli Kushner gives us sparkly little ghosts out for a bit of trick-or-treating on diecut pages that picture what's come before and preview what's coming next as cues for emergent readers in Five Silly Ghosts (board book) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), in a fun read-along that every little would-be spook should share in the spooky season.