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.

Move Over! Ten Monsters In The Bed by Katie Cotton

"WAIT!

BEFORE YOU START: THIS BOOK HAS MANY MONSTERS
FALLING TO THE GROUND.

PRESS EACH ONE THAT'S ON THE FLOOR TO HEAR A FUNNY SOUND!"

The bed's too small, and that's not all!

Ten monsters are jammed into the top bunk bed, and no one is happy! Too many freaky bodies and way too many noises!

Give 'em the boot!

THE BURPY ONE WAS WAS PRETTY PROUD.
HE THOUGHT HIS BURPS THE BEST.

THE OTHERS BUMPED HIM TO THE FLOOR,
THEY REALLY WEREN'T IMPRESSED.B-u-u-r-r-p!

And so it goes. The Snorer goes over, the Sneezer is out in the cold, and the itcher is scratched from the list, as all head overboard. Ditto for the Muncher, the Hiccupper, and the Slurper. And the rude noises are just getting started, as the next-to-last monster noise gets off the biggest guffaw of all....(and no, dear reader, I'm not tellin' with what) in Katie Cotton's boisterous counting book, Ten Monsters in the Bed (Little Bee Books, 2014), filled with wacky, quirky, and silly monsters, done up in riotous colors and squiggly shapes. This one is a fun and sugar-free surprise for the trick-or-treat bag for that special little giggler on your list.

Preschoolers who prefer a touch of the ribald will jump at a chance to push the magic button on this "toy and movable book." As Kirkus Review forthrightly puts it, "Setting new standards for gross sound effects, 10 monsters snore, scream, scratch, hiccup, belch, or worse."

Getting to the Bottom of It! Monsters Love Underpants! by Claire Freedman

MONSTERS THINK IT'S MONSTROUS FUN.

TO CREEP AROUND, ALL SCARY.

BUT THERE'S SOMETHING THEY LOVE MORE

THAN LOOKING MEAN AND HAIRY.

Aliens do it; pirates do it; dandy dinosaurs and cavemen do it.

Even Santa doesn't eschew it.

Do what?

Why, wear underpants, of course, in Claire Freedman's brand-new, derriere-wear story, Monsters Love Underpants (The Underpants Books) (Aladdin Books, 2015). Author Freedman goes way back in the history of booty lit, and her publishing record shows that she gets it that underpantses get the glances.

After all...

ALIENS STEAL 'EM!
PIRATES REVEAL 'EM.
DINOS DON'T CONCEAL 'EM.

MONSTERS? DON'T FEAR 'EM.
THEY JUST WANNA WEAR 'EM.

In her latest in her top-selling keister-cover series, Freedman shows her shaggy, horned and fanged little monsters cavorting in caves, clomping in chains, sweating in swamps, icing up in polar places, and partying hearty in their pantaloons. Her colleague in funny undies, artist Ben Cort, displays once more that he is totally top-drawer at drawing drawers, nattily attiring his monsters in dandy duff designs. Even the, er, endpapers feature even more colorful boxers and briefs. See Freedman's other guaranteed giggle-getting stories of aliens, pirates, and dinosaurs, in her incom-pair-able Underpants series.

Moonshot! Stanley the Sock Monster Goes to the Moon by Jedda Robaard

EVERY NIGHT DAD WOULD READ STANLEY HIS FAVORITE BOOK

STANLEY REALLY, REALLY WANTED TO GO TO THE MOON.

Since Stanley's favorite bedtime story is titled To the Moon and Back, it's not too surprising that he harbors a dream to make his own moon landing. But Stanley, an amorphous character who resembles a a pillow in a peppermint-striped onesie, has a slim grasp upon what exactly is the right stuff to get to the moon, despite all his notes, books, and sketches. His first try, standing in a moon boot and waiting for it to kick into action, is definitely not a kickstarter.

Then Stanley decides to catch a shooting star in his little butterfly net and hope its next stop is the moon. But like the traditional recipe for rabbit stew (first catch the rabbit), first catching the star turns out to be a non-starter. The moon and stars are not as close as they look.

Dad advises him to look at the challenge from a new point of view. Stanley stands on his head to reconsider the problem.

Finally, Stanley thinks about his favorite book and the picture of the rocket on the cover. Stanley's grasp of spacecraft design is limited, but his fuzzy, knitted spaceship has some powers not evident from its appearance. Wonder of wonders, the countdown is followed by a liftoff.

WHOOOOOOOOOOSH!

IT WAS JUST AS WONDERFUL AS STANLEY HAD IMAGINED.

A slight, sweet, wish-fulfillment fantasy, Jedda Robaard's new American edition of Stanley the Sock Monster Goes to the Moon (Little Bee Books, 2015), succeeds primarily on the strength of Robaard's beguiling ink and watercolor illustrations, done in a muted pastel palette with great charm and deft page design. Stanley is not the least bit monstrous, but tots will accept the "anything is possible if you try" theme in the spirit in which it is offered, as a pleasant little eye-pleasing adventure that ends with Stanley presenting everyone back on terra firma with a souvenir star from his successful moon voyage.

Fickle!!! Bunnies!!! by Kevan Atteberry

HELLO, TREE!

BUNNIES!!!

Declan is a little blue horned monster, whose potential scariness is softened by his shoe-button eyes and the pink pom-pom on his tail. And he is a little monster who finds everything in the forest exciting--especially four rabbits--shaped and colored like jelly beans.

The four bunnies, however, are not so pleased to meet up with him. To them, Declan is a scary-looking dude, and they hop off frantically and hide behind the trees.

BUNNIES?

Oh, nooo! They're gone! Declan is dejected. He liked those bunnies!!! He tries to distract himself by greeting other new things in the woods.

HELLO.... ROCK.

It's not the same.

But while Declan broods, the bunnies, each peeping stealthily from behind a tree, become more intrigued with Declan's interest. Just as the little monster slumps down against a tree to mope more effectively, one brave bunny approaches and taps him on the shoulder.

His bunnies are back!!!

Happy hops and hugs ensue, Declan is delighted with his new bunny buddies... until he spots something NEW!

BIRDIES!!!

In his latest, Bunnies!!! (Katherine Tegen Books, 2015), Kevan Atteberry features an appealing little monster whose toddler-like enthusiasms turn from one thing to another quickly. Atteberry's bright pastels and roly-poly characters, set forth in four-panel pages and double-page spreads, make this story especially attractive to mercurial preschoolers, who well understand the attraction of the next new thing.

Other books illustrated by Kevan Atteberry include Josie Bissett's Tickle Monster and Boogie Monster. (see my review here).

Monster Merriment: Frankenstein and the Fright before Christmas by Ludwurst Bemonster

IT WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS AND POOR MISS DEVEL
WAS HASSLED AND HARRIED AND NOT FEELING WELL.
THE MONSTERS' BED MANNERS HAD TAKEN THEIR TOLL.
THEY'D LOST THEIR HEADS! THEY WERE OUT OF CONTROL.

SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT!

Miss Devel rises from her gurney, dons her lab coat and goggles, and scurries downstairs where the little monsters are sporting various household appliances--laptops, toasters, vintage Victrolas--where their heads should be. She does her best to sort out the mixup, with marginal success. But no sooner does she get the small monsters to pull out their teeth, wet their beds, and settle down, something else is not quite right.

FOR OFF IN THE DISTANCE SHE HEARD SUCH A CLATTER
SHE SPRANG FROM HER SLEEP TO SEE WHAT WAS THE MATTER!

Little Frankenstein crashes through the castle door with a fir tree fresh from the graveyard decorated with bats and bones, just as Miss Devel hears a sound from the rooftop:

ON WHOZIT, ON WHATZIT, ON ALL OF YOU OTHERS!

Santa, his sleigh, and his full pack crash through the rickety roof, and among the creepy contents of his sack are replacement heads for all the little monsters. After having a giggly good time trying on each other's heads, the monsters finally get it right, and as a reward Santa offers them all a sleepover at the North Pole, while Miss Devel gladly takes the option of a night off and returns to her gurney for a monster-free GOODNIGHT!

In their Frankenstein's Fright Before Christmas (Feiwel and Friends Fiends, 2014), Rick Walton and Nathan Hale morph together to take on the tropes of two classics, Ludwig Bemelman's Madeline and Clement Clarke Moore's The Night Before Christmas in a monster mash that would tickle even the Grinch's funny bone. Using Bemelman's familiar verse form and illustrative style with a haunted castle setting for St. Nick's visit, the two create a Christmas spoof that brings down the house (almost). Parodying two classics of kid lit simultaneously is no small feat, but as Ludworst Bemonster, this duo carries off this rather sophisticated parody with elan, frightful fun, and monstrous mirth. Savvy young readers will recognize what Walton and Hale are up to here and find this one a happy seasonal stocking stuffer.

Walton's and Hale's first collaboration was Frankenstein (read my 2012 review here.)

"I Am Not!" My Teacher Is a Monster by Peter Brown

BOBBY HAD A PROBLEM IN SCHOOL.

HER NAME WAS MRS. KIRBY.

Mrs. Kirby is a monster. Built like a cross between a dowdy fireplug and a warthog with fangs, Mrs. Kirby stomps around like Godzilla and bellows his name when he innocently sails a paper airplane around the classroom.

"ROBERT!! NO RECESS!"

Through the week Mrs. Kirby's monster face haunts Bobby's dreams. But at last it is Saturday and he heads off for the local park for some much-needed
R and R.

It can't be. But it IS. Mrs. Kirby is there, in his park, sitting on his bench, wearing a large, flowered hat, with no sign of welcome on her fanged face when she spots Bobby. They look long at each other, each wishing the other was somewhere, anywhere else.

Bobby longs to run, but something tells him that is the wrong move. Warily, he sits down on the far edge of the bench and raises his hand.

"BOBBY, YOU DON'T NEED TO RAISE YOUR HAND OUT HERE."

"I WAS GOING TO SAY 'HELLO, MRS. KIRBY.'"

It is a awkward moment as they both sit there wondering what to say next, when a brisk breeze blows Mrs. Kirby's hat away. Muttering something about its being a gift from her granny, Mrs. Kirby gets up to give chase, but Bobby beats her to the hat, and the grateful Mrs. Kirby calls him her hero.

With the ice broken, Bobby and Mrs. Kirby have a quacking contest with a mother duck and her ducklings swimming by, and when they are quite quacked out, Bobby offers to show his teacher his favorite part of the park, a high knoll.

Bobby scampers up the rocks, and Mrs. K. clambers up behind him. They sit atop the hill together.

"THIS IS LOVELY," SAID MRS. KIRBY."

She hands Bobby a fresh sheet of paper from her bag and he makes and flies his best paper airplane ever. And as the two say goodbye, Bobby notices that Mrs. Kirby doesn't look like a monster at all.

That is, until Monday, when Bobby has an uncontrollable urge to fly his best paper airplane across the classroom.

"ROBERT!!!"

Mark Brown's Arthur had Mr. Ratburn, and Harry Allard's miscreant Room 207 had Miss Viola Swamp. Heck, we've all had that teacher, the one we were sure lived to torture us with pages and pages of arithmetic problems, cancelled recesses, and dirty looks. Now it is Bobby's turn, in Peter Brown's My Teacher Is a Monster! (No, I Am Not.) (Little, Brown and Company, 2014). Caldecott-winning artist (for Creepy Carrots!) Peter Brown lays down a deadpan text and lets his illustrations, done in India ink, pencil, and gouache with digital effects, project Bobby's assessment of his teacher, shown with moldy green skin and snaggly fangs at school which morph into a rather pleasant teacherly face at the park, and which only start to flush a bit greenish at the sight of that errant airplane on Monday.

Mark Brown's Arthur had Mr. Ratburn, and Harry Allard's miscreant Room 207 had Miss Viola Swamp. Heck, we've all had that teacher, the one we were sure lived to torture us with pages and pages of arithmetic problems, cancelled recesses, and dirty looks. Kids will laugh--sympathetically--with Bobby, whose hair literally stands on end under the glare of his monster teacher, and perhaps get the hint that misbehaving may be what turns teachers into monsters after all.

Other top-selling books by Peter Brown are Mr. Tiger Goes Wild (Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards (Awards)) and Children Make Terrible Pets (Starring Lucille Beatrice Bear). (See reviews here)

Dinner at the Gross-Out Diner: Spider Sandwiches by Claire Freedman

COME EAT WITH MAX.

HE HAS A MONSTER APPETITE.

HE EATS SUCH YUCKY MUCKY FOOD,

HIS MEALTIMES ARE A FRIGHT!

After a home-cooked breakfast of toenail omelet and grasshopper leg smoothies,  Max orders some delicacies from the internet--space ants, and moon-goop globs--to tide himself over until lunch, when he tucks in to his rainbow lice and rice stirfry. (Better eat 'em before the lice jump off the plate!)

This disgusting gourmand gobbles globs of slimy, gooey glop, some his own creations from his favorite recipes from Squealia's Monster Cookbook and The Monsters' Cookbook-- his cookies have sprinkles (beetle bits), and his delicious side dishes, such as French-fried hairy bats' ears, hors d'oeuvres like squashed fly caviar on crackers or fish-eye finger foods--are famous. Rat-tail pizza is a treat, and blue mold chips are hard to beat.

Is there no comestible gruesome enough to make Max gag?

Well, there is one--the one thing that youngsters all seem to regard as barf bait!

BRUSSELS SPROUTS SOUP!

For surefire eeeeuuwws and yuucckkks from the preschool/primary crowd, Max's menu is certain to meet all expectations, in author Claire Freedman's just published Spider Sandwiches (Bloomsbury Press, 2014), with splendidly silly illustrations by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet. It's a beginner's gross-out appetizer before kids move on to seriously stomach-sloshing classic entrees such as Adam Rex's Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich.

Claire Freedman's other "well-versed" best-sellers include Aliens Love Underpants, Dinosaurs Love Underpants (The Underpants Books), Aliens in Underpants Save the World (The Underpants Books), and Aliens Love Panta Claus.

RRROARR! Even Monsters... by A. J. Smith

EVERYONE KNOWS THAT MONSTERS
ROARRRR!
BUT DO THEY KNOW....
EVEN MONSTERS PUT ON CLEAN UNDERWEAR EACH MORNING?

This monster tot is a little short on scare power. Oh, he has baby claws and a crooked smile, all right, and his fur IS green, but still, he's pretty downright cute.

And he does all the usual kid stuff. He eats colorful kid cereal (SWAMP MUNCH crunchies, with moose milk and mantis juice on the side.

With a SNARRRL, he brushes his fur with a small croc's teeth and heads off to Krudlump Elementary, where the ABCs begin with Abominable, Bogeyman, and Cyclops, and the proper way to write is with two crayons in his nostrils.

At home with an appropriately grisly GRRUMBLE!, junior monster Stewbo kicks the heck out of a soccer ball and destroys video game aliens with appropriate gusto and then has to finish his dinner, take a bath, brush his fangs, and get ready for bed. GROWLLLL! HOWLLLLL!

And what do even little monsters want at bedtime? A bedtime book called Even Humans... and a goodnight kiss? ZZZZZzzzzz!

A, J. Smith's Even Monsters... (Sourcebooks, 2014) story has no scary surprises, since his premise is that even monsters do all the same stuff kids do, even if combing the cooties out of their fur is not their usual revolting bedtime ritual! The fun in this monster tale is not in getting some vicarious shivers, but in the visual jokes in Smith's illustrations. Stewbo's underwear are whitie tighties with labels that proudly proclaim "USDA ORGANIC," a bit of grownup-pleasing sly humor which trots out all the monster tropes and set them on their head. This little monster is right down the alley for preschoolers, rather in the same vein as Mercer Mayer's earlier classic charmers, the Little Critter series and Jane Yolen's more recent How Do Dinosaurs series. For some serious monster bedtime fun, read this one with Amanda Noll's monstrously delightful twist on monster mania, I Need My Monster (see review here).

What's For Dinner? Monster Chefs by Brian and Liam Anderson

What does a monster king eat? ANYTHING he wants!

And for the Monster King's royal chefs, that is a problem. It seems the King has become a picky eater.

"I'M SICK OF EATING EYEBALLS AND KETCHUP!" ROARED THE MONSTER KING.

"FIND ME SOMETHING GOOD TO EAT OR YOU WILL FIND YOURSELVES ON THE MENU!"

In fear and trembling the King's four chefs split up to search out a novel comestible to tempt the tyrant's palate. But the potential foodstuffs are not inclined to cooperate.

To the first chef, a tasty-looking hare points out an unforeseen consequence of eating him:

"IF YOU EAT A RABBIT, YOU TURN INTO A RABBIT. WHY DO YOU THINK THERE ARE SO MANY OF US?"

When he contemplates serving up a fine fillet of fish, the second chef gets the same story from the would-be main course.

The third Chef heads off to the desert and spots a snake, thinking he would make a novel entree.

"LOOK AROUND YOU!" HISSES THE SNAKE. "WHEN YOU EAT A SSSSNAKE, YOU TURN INTO SSSSAND!"

The three chefs, having struck out in their quest for a new dish, trudge back to the Monster King's court where they prepare to slather themselves with ketchup for the King's dining pleasure. Felicitously, the fourth chef appears with his find, not a food, but a tiny chef whose creations never need ketchup. She's a pastry chef and produces a wondrously novel product for the King's consumption--a cupcake!

All is forgiven in the Monster King's kitchen, and he forgoes eating eyeballs, unless they are fake toppings for the cupcakes, in Brian and Liam Anderson's Monster Chefs (Roaring Brook Press, 2014), a super silly little monster tale that is as light and fluffy as the frosting on the Monster King's cupcakes. Author Brian Anderson cooked up this monster story with his five-year-old son Liam, and the result is a story that begs to be read aloud. As Publisher's Weekly proclaims, "The narration is a winner from beginning to end: aurally redolent (“The king, spit seething from his massive mouth, glared down at them”) and punctuated with lovely alliteration and delectable vocabulary, it’s like a tasting course for the ear—and a performer’s dream."

A recipe for the King's cupcakes, complete with directions for edible eyeballs as topping, is appended by the author.

Bunnies for Lunch?: Don't Play With Your Food! by Bob Shea

"OUTTA MY WAY, TREES!   DRY UP, LAKE!

YOU'RE NOT SO HOT, SUN!

HI. I'M BUDDY! I'M A MONSTER.

I'M GOING TO EAT ALL YOU BUNNIES!"

Buddy gets right down to business. Bunnies are for eating. Period.

Although the three white bunnies quail at the idea of jumping into his mouth for lunch, they're smarter than Buddy.

"OH, PLEASE, NO! WE ARE ABOUT TO MAKE CUPCAKES!"

Buddy has more bravado than brains and grudgingly decides to let the baker bunnies finish the cupcakes, so he'll have bunnies as his entree' and a dessert besides. He agrees to play with the bunnies until the cupcakes come out of the oven, and the cakes are so irresistible that, after eating most of them himself, he decides to save the bunnies for breakfast.

But when he returns the next day, the bunnies invite him to go swimming with them and warn Buddy that he'll get a cramp if he swims with a stomach full of bunny. He has a great time splashing and sunning with the guys, and falls asleep before he can eat them. When he awakes, he can't quite bring himself to do the deed.

"THEY LOOK SO CUTE WHEN THEY'RE ASLEEP!"

But the next day the bunnies are all wearing orange-stripey Buddy Fan Club sweaters. A monster can't eat his fan club, can he?

Then the bunnies invite Buddy to the carnival and choose the most nausea-inducing rides, and Buddy is too queasy to stomach any sort of bunny for the rest of the day.

The bunnies seem to have more tricks up their sleeves than Buddy has appetite for eating them, in Bob Shea's latest monster giggle fest, Buddy and the Bunnies in: Don't Play with Your Food! (Hyperion, 2014). Buddy even loses all street cred with the other monsters, who point out his obvious mistake:

"DIDN'T YOUR MOM EVER TELL YOU NOT TO PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD?

Bob Shea's scary-cute monster is no match for the clever bunnies, who seems to keep multiplying with each page turn, until even dim-bulb Buddy finally takes notice. Shea's theme, that fun friends trump even lunch and dinner, will please kids, and the bunnies' increasing numbers and creative main-dish-avoidance techniques make this trickster tale a winner with the preschool/primary set. Shea's art is as wild and woolly as his main character, and judging from the title, he plans a new series built around Buddy and the bunnies.  Kirkus Reviews writes, "Shea's storytelling still shines. Children often see themselves as the underdog in an adultcentric world; they'll be rooting for the bunnies (all three... wait, 72 of them)".

Pair this new one with any of Shea's similarly slapstick Dinosaur stories, such as Dinosaur vs. Bedtime and Dinosaur vs. the Potty (Board Book). (Read my rip-RAHHR-ing reviews here!)

Now Entering Cutesville: Love Monster by Rachel Bright

THIS IS MONSTER.

I THINK YOU WILL AGREE HE'S A BIT FUNNY-LOOKING, TO SAY THE LEAST.

It's not hard to see why this hairy little red monster is feeling blue. Somehow he's wandered into a place where he is obviously the odd one out. The sign at the edge of town tells it all.

WELCOME TO CUTESVILLE
***Home of the Fluffy***

Although the lavender heart on his sleeve proclaims that Monster's lookin' for love, this town looks like all the wrong places. Everything is pink or violet, and everyone is fluffy!  Monster is red and... yuk! HAIRY! With his bulgy eyes and visible fangs, Monster realizes that this town's idea of cute is just not in the cards for him

Still he doesn't give up his search to find someone like him to love him.

HE LOOKED HIGH... AND  LOW.  HE LOOKED MIDDLE-ISH.

For a moment he thinks he's spotted a soul mate--someone similarly hirsute, but it turns out to be his own reflection.  Then it begins to rain, looking dark and scary. Monster's search is clearly NOT going well!

But in Rachel Bright's brand-new Love Monster (Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2013), there is at least one other hairy monster in the BIG WIDE WORLD, and Monster finds out that there are sweet surprises out there when "love finds you."  Bright's little Monster may not be fluffy, but in illustrator Bright's distinctive artwork, he is quite cute enough for Cutesville.   This is a heartfelt story of finding your place in the world with a theme that kids will get right away.  Publishers Weekly says, "Bright has a brisk but sympathetic voice that’s appealingly British, and her visual pacing is impeccable."

Big Blue Monster:Bright Baby Noisy Monsters by Roger Priddy

BOB'S FIFTH EYE HAS SPOTTED SOMETHING SCARY IN THE LAKE!

A bunch of monsters are out for fun, each in his own way. Baxter, with one eye, heads out to the moon to visit three-eyed Freddy.  Chester loves to play the bongos, while Zac, who has lots of feet to tap, shows off  his shuffle-ball-change.

Then they all meet up with Bruno, Trixie, and Mike, who like to throw snowballs at their friends. But wait! There's more! Max, Zoe, and Bob, with five eyes each, spot an old favorite, Nessie, out in the lake.

It's an admittedly adorable bunch of creatures assembled in Roger Priddy's  board book, Bright Baby Noisy Monsters (St. Martin's Press), equipped with a big green button to press and trigger recorded monster giggles at the antics of this strange cast of characters. For the very youngest baby spooks on Halloween, pair this one with Fiona Watt's tactile board book, That's Not My Monster (Touchy-Feely Board Books) for a couple of treats for tots too little to go out on Halloween.

Boo-tique: The Monstore by Tara Lazar

AT THE BACK OF FRANKENSWEET'S CANDY SHOPPE, UNDER THE LAST BOX OF SOUR GUMBALLS, THERE'S A TRAPDOOR.

KNOCK FIVE TIMES, HAND OVER A BAG OF SQUIRMY WORMS, AND YOU CAN CRAWL INSIDE... THE MONSTORE.

Who could resist that invitation?

And Zack has a compelling reason to patronize the subterranean Monstore--his much-dreaded little sister, Gracie, The Room Invader. Since KEEP OUT signs have no effect on Gracie, who rambles and rummages through his bedroom daily, Zack figures a monstrous scary critter might do the trick, especially when he reads the ad which points out that their monsters can be useful in lying in wait under the kitchen table to make whatever horrible crab-leg casserole Mom delivers disappear!

Enter Manfred the Monster. He  looks scary and his casserole-scarfing skills are impeccable.

But Manfred is easily manipulated by the nefarious Gracie, even showing her Zack's favorite hiding places, from which the two of them soon conspire to scare Zack instead.

Since the Monstore has a NO RETURN NO EXCHANGE policy, the only thing the proprietors can offer is to sell Zack yet another monster, Mookie, who might intimidate the gutsy Gracie. Reluctantly, Zack forks over more money in hopes that this extra monster will make Gracie run screaming from his room. No luck.

Zack soon finds himself with a menagerie of monsters, all of them partying down with Gracie at the surprise birthday bash they cater for her. Is there nothing that this pesty little sister fears?

Well, there is one thing that strikes terror in Gracie's monster-proof heart, in Tara Lazar's look at siblingitis,  The Monstore (Aladdin, 2013), illustrated in jaunty cartoon style by James Burks. Older brothers and reputedly bothersome little sisters will both get their revenge in this silly monster tale for the scary season. Publishers Weekly says, " Zack gets a chance to prove himself as a capable older brother, but this story really belongs to Gracie."

Then There Was One! Ten Creepy Monsters by Carey F. Armstrong-Ellis

The usual suspects are all gathered in the dark, ten terribly scary sorts--a ghost, zombie, ghoul, sea monster, witch, vampire, et al--presumably out to do no good on All Hallow's Eve. But before they can get started, an ill wind catches the ghost's shroud and lifts him up and away. Unaware, the remaining nine set forth.

NINE CREEPY MONSTERS TRUDGED WITH LURCHING GAIT.

ONE LOST HIS FOOT AND THEN THERE WERE EIGHT.

Zombies! They're always falling apart just when you need them!

The remaining monsters ignore their de-parted comrade and stagger on with their midnight mission. But then another of their number loses focus: the werewolf spots the full moon and launches into a lyric howl, leaving the rest to lurch on without him. The scarecrow makes the mistake of striking a match and sets himself alight instead of his torch; the sea monster is waylaid by a lovely lady in a swimsuit, and mummy snags his trailing wrappings and comes quite undone.

At last only the witch, the vampire, and the green goblin remain--but not for long. The witch spills some of her brew on herself and melts into a puddle, and the vampire vanishes when he spots the first rays of the sunrise, leaving only that small, grimacing goblin, who runs with surprising agility straight for a nearby cozy house. Is he set for solo mischief inside that homey-looking cottage?

Inside, there are only some candies and wrappers scattered on the floor, a little boy dozing off sweetly in his little bed, and .... a grisly green mask dangling from his bedpost.

HE PULLED UP HIS BLANKETS

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE.

Carey Armstrong-Ellis's Ten Creepy Monsters (Abrams, 2012) is a counting book perfect for the scary season, with suitably scary-but-comic Halloween frightfuls, each of which stays perfectly in character as they make their departure from the countdown as the suspense builds, with a giggle-provoking surprise in the turn of the last page. For Halloween surprise endings, pair this one with Lorna Balian's venerable classic, Humbug Witch, with its similar premise which stays well on the humorous side of scary for youngsters in the pre-Halloween season.