Wanna Spook a Spook? How to Scare A Ghost by Jean Reagan

DO YOU WANT TO SCARE A GHOST?

It's like the old saw about making rabbit stew: first you have to catch the rabbit. And to spook a spook, the season in which you look is important!

THE EASIEST, SPOOKIEST TIME IS...HALLOWEEN!

Make your house and yard look appealing to ghosts. Conceal scarecrows (but not that well) in the backyard so the specters will feel at home. Park a few creepy Jack o' lanterns around the place. Crank up the speakers with some scary sounds. At school be sure to do some Halloween-y stuff, like bobbing for apples and putting out black-and-orange cupcakes. Ghosts are also attracted by the smell of glue and the sparkle of glitter in homemade decorations.

But be forewarned: it's not so easy to recognize a ghost at Halloween. There are lots of kids in sheets or store-bought costumes. But there's one sure way to tell. Invite the suspected spook home after school on the day your mom always vacuums the house.

Ghosts (and cats) are terrified of vacuum cleaners!

There are other sure ways to tell a ghost from a kid in costume.

Try the seesaw test: if the sure-enough spook sits down on the high side, it doesn't go down. Or, try the trampoline test:

YUP! NO BOUNCE!

But by the time the potential ghost is verified, he's more like a buddy who needs some trick-or-treating tips, one who'll give you all his stash, in Jean Reagan's latest in her popular How To series, How to Scare a Ghost (Alfred A. Knopf, 2018). Artist Lee Wildish again adds his comic sight gags to this Halloween How To manual, as when the friendly ghost, in a loaner robot costume, forgets himself and floats too high, scaring the bystanders when they see he has ...

AAGH! NO FEET!!!

This newest for youngsters by Reagan and Wildish is a lighthearted look at the scary season. Says Publishers Weekly,"... a playful Halloween story for readers not ready for scarier fare."