THE BATS ON THE BUS

“The Wheels on the Bus” gets a Halloween makeover.

“The Bats on the bus hang / UPSIDE DOWN, / UPSIDE DOWN, / UPSIDE DOWN. / The Bats on the bus / hang UPSIDE DOWN… // All around the town.” So begins this gently ghoulish Halloween spin on the toddler singalong mainstay. Among the passengers who hop aboard are witches (who “scream… // WHERE’S MY BROOM?”), vampires ( “I’LL GET YOU!”), and zombies (“HERE WE COME!”). The book’s twist will likely surprise readers, and not just young ones: Turns out the bus is headed to a school, and at the end of the ride, the passengers remove their face-obscuring masks to reveal a racially diverse assortment of children who yell “TRICK OR TREAT!” at readers before disembarking and proceeding to a schoolyard Halloween party. It’s all carefully calibrated to stimulate without terrifying the original song’s littlest boosters. Magoon’s digital art has a mid-century cartoonish look that’s just the right degree of unsettling with its color combos, which vary from page to page (mustard and olive, grays with purple, black and tomato red…). Keen-eyed readers will adore the story’s visual gags: The word Spirit is emblazoned on the bus, the school’s roof seems to feature two glowing eyes, and the pale-skinned bus driver, whose aesthetic is Morticia Addams meets Alice Cooper, wears a top hat with an otherworldly occupant.

A treat full of tricks.