Simple rhymes celebrate Halloween in solid, easy-to-read fashion: “Monsters munching, / monsters crunching, / monsters chomping, / monsters stomping!” Corey’s monsters disport themselves happily till, one by one, the little monsters get sleepy and bid Halloween goodnight. Corey’s text is merely serviceable, but Terry’s illustrations more than compensate. His costumed kids transform from ordinary children to marvelously bulbous, outlandish creatures in psychedelic colors and with gorgeously bug-eyed faces. They walk down the darkening streets, plastic trick-or-treat pumpkins dangling from improbably protruding childish hands, not so much kids wearing costumes as the real deal—nary a witch nor a superhero among them—in a validation of the transformative power of the day. A happy change of pace for beginning readers. (Early reader. 5-7)
