cover image Mr. Pumpkin’s Tea Party

Mr. Pumpkin’s Tea Party

Erin Barker. Blue Manatee, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-936669-77-6

The characters in this seasonal counting book are all traditionally spooky sorts—a spider named Madam Silk, a mummy called Dr. Cairo, and more—but the scariest thing they have in store is attending Mr. Pumpkin’s elegant evening tea party. He offers “one cake”; Sir Bones, a formally dressed skeleton, contributes “two jugs of cider”; a vampire dressed as a flapper offers “three jars of jelly to share”; and neighborhood wildlife get in on the act, too (“four swooping bats/ fly through the air”). Newcomer Barker’s watercolor and ink illustrations provide the softest of Halloween atmospherics: gentle night, full moon, weeping willow. Formal wear (Baron Laguna sports a bowtie), tidy tea etiquette, and delicious homemade goodies—Mr. Pumpkin’s berry-topped cake, Lord Wolfington’s scones—portray this Halloween celebration as a quiet, stylish gathering framed by the counting sequence and the rhyming lines. Just right for fear-averse Halloween revelers. Ages 3–5. [em](Sept.) [/em]