SPOOKY HOUR

Standing in for readers or listeners, an anxious-looking dog and cat look on as, once the clock strikes twelve, eleven witches, ten ghosts, and so on, troop through moonlit woods to the castle of witchy twins Mitch and Titch to chow down on “ONE GIGANTIC PUMPKIN PIE.” The writing isn’t first-rate—“Nine skeletons dance by, clickety-clack. / Their snapping teeth go snickety snack”—but Parker-Rees endows each full-bleed scene with intense Halloween colors, plus a cast of the usual suspects, looking far too friendly and unthreatening to alarm even the youngest children. A safe choice for holiday reading, with a bit of counting practice thrown in. (Picture book. 4-6)