K-Gr 2--Two escaped convicts, still dressed in striped uniforms, seek to hide in what appears to be an abandoned house. The house, as it turns out, is haunted. The wimpy cons haven't kept track of the calendar, and the night they choose to hide out is none other than October 31st. Using a countdown rhyme that resembles the pattern of "Over in the Meadow," the author spins the tale of a tortuous night for the two fraidy-cat inmates. Howling werewolves, hungry vampires, wriggling worms, swooping bats, booing ghosts, monsters that chase, skeletons that dance, dangling spiders, pouncing cats, and airborne witches in groups of descending numbers do their best to scare the men out of the house. At sunrise, as the cowering cons huddle together in a steamer trunk, the Halloween hooligans vanish. The prisoners flee the house and don't stop until they are back in their cell. One embroiders a sampler that says "Home Sweet Home" and the other is looking over a redecorating magazine. Agee's cartoon-style illustrations, rendered in somber watercolors, reinforce the text by showing the "difficult" circumstances that scared the bad guys straight. A worthy Halloween storytime offering.--Susan Garland, Maynard Public Library, MA

A natural candidate for reading aloud, this book puts a Halloween twist on a familiar counting rhyme: In the Halloween house,/in a dark dingy den,/a papa werewolf crouched/with his little ones ten.'' Silverman (Mrs. Peachtree's Bicycle, 1996, etc.) populates her creaky mansion with tried and true creatures, both natural and supernatural: baby vampires, worms, spiders, witches, monsters, ghosts, young skeletons, bats, etc. With splashy watercolors reminiscent of those in James Stevenson's Grandpa yarns, Agee not only creates a plotline—two escaped convicts spend a terrifying night touring the derelict place before dashing back to their cells—but depicts all the creepies as more cute than frightening, or at least harmless-looking. Children will need little encouragement to imitate the howling, squirming, swooping, Booooooo''-ing cast, without fear of nightmares when it's time for bed. (Picture book. 3-5)"

The old song goes Over in the meadow in the sand in the sun, lived an old mother turtle and her little turtle one, but in this version, Silverman has created a Halloween house where the inhabitants aren't nearly so cozy: In the Halloween house, / on a bed made of pine, / a mama vampire woke / with her little ones, nine. The illustrations show a pair of escaped convicts in striped prison garb running through the house being chased by a mama monster and her little ones, five, pounced on by a papa cat and his little ones, two, and so on. The very funny story is matched by hilarious illustrations in a style reminiscent of New Yorker cartoons. This will be a story hour hit all year round. (Reviewed Sept. 1, 1997)

On Halloween night, an old haunted house is crawling with creepy creatures--ghosts, witches, skeletons, monsters, etc., and their young. The rhyme starts with a papa werewolf and his ten little werewolves and counts down to zero 'dear little ones' at dawn, when all vanish in the harsh light of the sun. Agee has added a subplot in his pictures: a pair of Laurel-and-Hardy convicts who are led on a merry chase by the house's nocturnal inhabitants.