What kid doesn’t want to be spooked on Halloween?
Daphne, dressed as a witch, and younger brother Sam, dressed as a ghost, magically get two tickets to the one-night Heebie-Jeebie Jamboree. The carnival of frights is filled with scary attractions: a rodeo of warlocks bustin’ brooms, a witch’s brew-off, a goblin pie contest and a Rolling Bones concert. When Sam gets lost in the “boo-haha,” the fortune-teller tells Daphne he’s in for a bumpy ride, sending her to the roller coaster. At event after ghoulish event, she just misses Sam, but keen-eyed readers will find him in each scene. She finally finds him in Lost & Found, an upright coffin, where Sam is munching on jelly eyes that he won at the pie contest. Carnival-light–colored illustrations add plenty of icky and ugly details in the background: a merry-go-round of horse skeletons, a tombstone carved with “REST IN PIECES” and lurking black cats. There are never enough Halloween books, and this one has plenty of heebie-jeebies that are tame enough for a reassuring ending.
Anyone for eyes cream or barbecued bat wings? A rollerghoster of fun for younger trick-or-treaters. (Picture book. 4-7)
