"Trick-or-Treat: A Happy Haunter's Halloween" by Debbie Leppanen
This is a gentle collection of poems for Halloween. It's rhyming text with bold illustrations of goofy monsters is just right for preschoolers. There are minor thrills without being too scary. All sort of recognizable monsters fill the pages with new ones mixed in. Recommended for ages 5-8. "Your Skeleton is Showing: Rhymes of Blunder From Six Feet Under" by Kurt Cyrus
These poems aren't really about Halloween, but they are about a cemetery. A boy is exploring and learning about the grave yard's residents. Many of them had untimely deaths. For example, poor Wanda Gripp loved to hug, but met her end when she tried to embrace a boa constrictor; seems the constrictor hugged tighter. The illustrations are cartoonish, and this book is just the right mix and scary and ridiculous. Recommended for grades 4-6.
Check out one of these or one of the other Halloween poetry books available at your library.
--Angie R., HQ
