Young readers will enjoy this extended counting story that chronicles the witches, cats, owls, goats, snakes, bears, wolves, toads, crows, hares, bats, bugs, and ghosts that appear on Halloween night. The images are wonderfully specific, such as the alley cats that go clawing through garbage, hares that hunt for fallen corn, crows that dance in a pumpkin field, and bugs that feast on cold, dried-up old stew. They inspire a pleasant thrill rather than an all-out terror. The gentle cadences of the verse have a music of their own and would be very enjoyable read aloud: ``Seven wolves prowl/for a midnight meal,/stalking this, stalking that,/howling in he full moon's view,/on Halloween night./OO-oo-oo- ooh.'' Misty, gray-washed illustrations add just the right touch to the modestly spooky tone that pervades. A basically gentle book; the authors and illustrator aim for an eerie atmosphere and stay away from gut-in-the-throat scarification. (Fiction. 4+)
