Ages 4-6. ``I peer outside, there's something there / That makes me shiver, spikes my hair. / It must be Halloween.'' So begins Bunting's teasingly scary poem describing a parade of creatures that moves down the path on Halloween night. The mysterious sets of green eyes nervously viewing the creepy pedestrians turn out to belong to a mother cat and her kittens, who, when the monsters trick-or-treaters in costume are gone, prowl the night for their own brand of fun. Deep, dark nighttime backdrops make the bursts of color in costumes, jack-o'-lanterns, and candle-lit faces especially vibrant. The scenes play out across double spreads that adeptly lead the eye from left to right. The endpapers are a treat a whirlwind of oranges and yellows as pumpkins, bats, and autumn leaves (plus a few ghosts) swirl across the double expanse. A festive production. DMW. Halloween Fiction / Cats Fiction / Stories in rhyme [CIP] 86-2642

Strong, clear pictures in vivid autumnal colors provide the setting for a troupe of traditional creatures--skeleton, ghost, vampire, werewolf, witches, goblins, gremlins, devil, and even a creature in a winding sheet--cavorting about for Halloween. Spookily evocative three-line rhymes describe each one. The creatures are observed by four pairs of green eyes that never stir from their hiding place until the parade has passed; then, out from under the porch come three kittens and their mother who do their own cavorting every night. From the delightfully decorative endpapers to the road lined with jack-o'-lanterns on every post, younger listeners will get a foretaste of trick or treating. A good book to read aloud between visitors on that special scary night. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Two green eyes shine in the night sky and someone whispers, ``I peer outside, there's something there/ that makes me shiver, spikes my hair./ It must be Halloween.'' As the unnamed narrator looks on, a skeleton, a ghost, a vampire, a werewolf, witches, goblins, gremlins, a devil and a mummy pass by. The monsters are in fact children dressed up in Halloween costumes, but Brett's pictures are deliciously scary. They strike a perfect balance between the children's costumes and their imaginary personae, drawing readers into a make-believe world. When the children go indoors, the narrator and his friendsa gang of adventurous pussycatsstalk the streets to prowl till dawn. Luminescent colors glow eerily in the darkened neighborhood; this holiday poem possesses all the atmosphere of the spookiest Halloween. (4-8) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

K-Gr 3 A Halloween offering that is sure to be snatched up year-round by children on the prowl for scary books. The rhymes are full of repetitions that give the text the quality of a chant. These marching rhythms advance a band of Halloween creatures along a winding country road. Bunting's strong verbs and Brett's clean, clear line drawings and vivid palette bring a devil, skeleton, ghost, etc., to life, and the effect is exciting but not in the least sinister or fear-inspiring. (Bunting's language does become a bit turgid at points, however.) The creatures are a troupe of spirited trick-or-treaters, but this is not known by the mother cat who tells story. Nor are readers aware of the identity of the narrator at the beginning. But as the parade progresses, and three more little eyes appear in the dark, readers begin to get a sense of those eyes warily watching the spectacle from a safe distance. Brett creates skillful shifts in visual perspective and effectively interprets the book's final turnabout: the tiny eyes, mere points of light, clustered under a house, are hidden so long as the trick-or-treaters are about. But when all is quiet, they suddenly blossom into cats that form their own parade and claim Halloween, just as the rising golden harvest moon at the book's beginning blossoms into a milky moon above them. Carefully planned and executed, illustrations and text nicely unified, this is well designed for group use and a fine introduction to Halloween story programs. Susan Powers, Berkeley Carroll Street School, Brooklyn (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.