Ding Dong! Who's There? Pete the Cat: Trick or Pete--A Lift-the-Flap Book by James Dean

Pete the Cat is excited to go trick or treating in his superhero costume.

Pete likes everything about Halloween--except the possibility that he's going to see something truly scary.

"Don't worry," says Pete's dad. We have our flashlight!"

But it's dark outside and the wind is going "Whooooo!" and something is rustling those dry leaves in the trees.

Oh, look! It's just an owl. That's not too scary!

Pete's trying to be brave and fearless, as behooves a superhero in a cape, but there are a lot of spooky possibilities on Halloween night, which give author James Dean a lot of ways to use the flaps in this inexpensive holiday paperback to suggest what may be lurking behind each well-placed flap. When he rings the first doorbell, Pete hears scary noises coming from behind that door. Who's there?

It's just his school friend Callie Cat, costumed as a witch. Not scary!

Callie tags along as Pete approaches the next house. But what's that tall figure moving in the yard?

Look! It's a scarecrow!

"Phew! That's not too spooky!"

And approaching another door, Pete spies something glowing with a flickering light and frightening faces. Look!

"Cool!" says Pete. "Jack O' Lanterns!"

But behind him! What's that? A dog in a tutu? Silly, not spooky!

"Oh! Just my friend Emma!"

There's even Grandma in a ghost costume to discover, as Pete meets and greets all the usual suspects out for trick-or-treat fun, in James Dean's Pete the Cat: Trick or Pete (HarperFestival, 2017). Dean's inexpensive little paperback is a fine treat for preschoolers who are still not too sure about venturing out in the dark, as it introduces youngsters to all those sights and sounds that abound on the trick-or-treat route. Dean's Pete the Cat is a popular guide for preschoolers and primary school kids wherever they go, and this one should be read soon to would-be Halloween goers.

Stalking the Classics! Scary, Scary Halloween by Eve Bunting and Jan Brett

"I peer outside, there's something there
That makes me shiver, spikes my hair.
It must be Halloween."

A watcher in the dark, seen only as a pair of green eyes, looks out at the darkling sight, as strange creatures begin to appear in the twilight--a skeleton's white bones glimmer in the fading light, rising ghostly figures trail by, werewolves and vampires prowl and growl and howl, witches with pointy chins cackle, and gremlins, goblins, and a horned devil prance by the grinning pumpkin heads glimmering from fence posts.

More green eyes appear in the dark, and someone, almost silently, hisses a warning:

"Little ones, stay safe inside!
It's best to stay at home and hide
On hallowed Halloween."

Suddenly there is a thunderous thump of feet above the heads of the little watchers....

Still hidden, the watchers see and hear a mummy with hairy clawed feet climbing to the porch above them to knock on the front door framed by two jolly Jack-o' Lanterns.

"Trick or Treat! It's Halloween!
Am I the scariest thing you've seen?"

Halloween as seen through the eyes and ears of three kittens and their mother cat can indeed seem quite scary, scary, in Eve Bunting's and Jan Brett's classic trick-or-treat story, Scary, Scary Halloween (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

Author Eve Bunting's rhyming triplets are both lyrical and evocative, using all the tricks of the poet--end-rhymes and internal rhymes, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and sibilant sounds--to set the spooky scene for a perfect Halloween, a time just right for costumed trick-or-treaters to make the night their own. Her little Greek chorus, the three young kittens and their graymalkin mother, observe it all, with the wise mama cat finally observing that "we're not the ones they came to scare," as they wait until that time when the night will again be their own. Bunting's lovely language makes this one a memorable readaloud even for novice storytellers.

Caldecott artist Jan Brett takes it from there, with absolutely stunning illustrations-- her pumpkins, her spooky old tree, those decked-out trick or treaters, (their identities revealed in their sneakered feet), and her glowing fall palette, all set against the shiny blackness of an autumn night. These two masters of the picture book art skillfully pace the rising suspense for youngsters with each page turn. The trick-or-treaters are both convincingly costumed and yet clearly children dressed to scare, and by the last pages most young readers will have guessed the identity of the green-eyed watchers, welcoming the feline family as the full moon rises high and they emerge from their hiding place under the porch to stalk the night unseen as only cats can--with a wink and a word to their readers--

"Goodbye 'til next year, Hallowe'en."

Bunting's and Brett's Scary, Scary Halloween is a masterful combination of narration and illustration that offer a timeless Halloween story, one for the ages. No child should miss it.

Boo Time! Syd Hoff's Danny and the Dinosaur--Happy Halloween! by Bruce Hale and David Cutting

Danny was excited. "Tonight is Halloween, and I can't wait!

It will be so much fun!"

"Absolutely," said Danny's friend, the dinosaur."What's Halloween?"

Danny explains that Halloween is a night when everyone wears spooky costumes and goes out to trick or treat from house to house and get candy.

"Can I go?" asked the dinosaur.

"Sure," said Danny. But first you need a costume."

The costume is a bit of a problem. Danny's buddy is so big that Danny uses up his whole roll of gauze, and the dinosaur still doesn't look like a mummy. At last, Danny gets an inspiration and pulls down a curtain to turn his friend into a enormous ghost.

Still, trick or treating turns out to a bit tricky for a very tall ghost. But Danny knows what to do. He takes his friend to some apartment buildings, where he fills his treat bag at third-story windows. And then Danny takes his dinosaur to a Halloween party, where they play "Pin the Wart on the Witch" and "Pumpkin Bowling," and his dinosaur discovers that he is terrific at bobbing for apples.

Thanks to his big mouth, the dinosaur was the best apple bobber ever!

It's the best Halloween ever for the two unlikely pals, in Bruce Hale's Danny and the Dinosaur: Happy Halloween (HarperFestival, 2016). With its holiday stickers pages and fold-out poster, this one is a great sugar-free treat for young Halloween-goers and a bit of a blast from the past for parents and grandparents who likely honed their early reading chops on easy readers based on Danny's adventures with the dino who followed him home from the museum. This one is great fun and reading practice for another generation of beginning readers.