HALLOWEEN NIGHT ON SHIVERMORE STREET

This hokey harvest romp, which boasts the season's corniest title, tolls the hours from six to 13 o'clock. Three costumed children carve pumpkins and bob for apples with other revelers, but when they cry, "Everyone in your place?/ Now—take off your face!," they realize their cheerful playmates are real witches and vampires. Pollack and Belviso (the Dexter's Lab books) set the scenes to bouncy limericks, and DuBurke's (The Moon Ring ) firelit acrylics lend a ghoulish glow to the theatrical holiday; his human characters pale next to his creepy creatures' portraits. As in previous years' Brooms Are for Flying and The Witch Casts a Spell —both of which are more surprising—the punch line relies on the unmasking. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)