In this silly-spooky counting book, ten witches all take off on the same broom. Things go downhill fast as they squabble and push, a spell is cast, and one by one they fall off (no one's injured) until only one remains to "zoom" off into the night. Humorous ink and watercolor illustrations (featuring some familiar creepy creatures) are coupled with bewitching rhymes.

Readers count witches from one to 10 and then back down again. The first two spreads counting up to six seem to exist largely to suit the rhyme scheme rather than to add to any story. But then, "Seven chant. / Eight incant. / Nine wicked witches rave and rant." Each with her own broom, the coven seems to be stirring up a potion, but then suddenly one witch decides to force the giant, dinosaurlike maid to trade brooms with her—the larger one is topped with a skull and can luckily fit all nine witches plus an additional hanger-on as they make their escape from the none-too-happy maid. All this is gleaned only from the illustrations, and readers can easily miss the visual cues, making the tale seem even slighter than it already is. The 10 witches ride the one broomstick, losing the witch in front one at a time to various accidents and spells. In the end, the nine watch the smallest witch as she glides atmospherically across the full moon. Bonnet's illustrations are largely dark blue and black with small pops of color from hair or accessories. The dark palette suits the subject but also makes differentiation difficult. This also means that the numerals are sometimes more hidden than they should be for children just learning to recognize them. Not much more than a counting book. (Picture book. 3-7)

In a dark-humored counting book from the team behind Pablo in the Snow, 10 witches share a wild broom ride through the night. Sloat introduces the witches while counting up to 10 (-Seven chant. Eight incant./ Nine wicked witches rave and rant-), but after their midflight fight causes their shared broomstick to plunge, they drop off one by one: -Six plummet down, still holding on./ One gets zapped by lightning-gone!- (While Sloat-s humor tilts toward the edgy, the final spread reveals that all 10 witches survive the ordeal.) Working in ink and watercolor, Bonnet-s illustrations have a chaotic, wobbly quality that suits this story of a late-night haunting gone wrong. Readers will want to pore over the details of her eerie, monster-filled nocturnal scenes-and probably enjoy a bit of schadenfreude as each witch makes her dramatic exit. Ages 4-8. (July)

PreS-Gr 1In this counting book, rhyming text follows one, two, three, and up to 10 witches as they gather on a single broom for a perilously crowded flight. They zip, glide, and dive as they haunt, chant, incant, rave, and rant. One by one they "hit reverse" and leave the broom, pushing for room, they "squabblesquirmtopple" off, sliding down through lightning and a drenching rain, before slipping down into the night. Detailed ink sketches of each individual witch (a diverse collection of cartoon characters highlighted in watercolor) fill scenes of towering castles, a helpful resident dragon, animated skeletons tending the graveyard, and nighttime frolics around cauldrons. Miniscule bats hang from the ceiling of Dracula's rooms, and witches dangle upside down from the larger broom, while a lone little witch finally escapes with her faithful kitten across a harvest moon. VERDICT A mildly spooky general purchase for all libraries, this may be just the ticket for detail-driven independent readers, who will enjoy finding the lightly hidden numbers on each page or perhaps telling the story behind each scene.Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano ISD, TX