cover image 10 Trick-or-Treaters: A Halloween Counting Book

10 Trick-or-Treaters: A Halloween Counting Book

Janet Schulman, , illus. by Linda Davick. . Knopf, $9.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-375-83225-3

Ten children emerge from a violet-tinted apartment building and board a yellow bus: "10 trick-or-treaters.../ standing in a line./ Along came a spider.../ and then there were 9." The celebrants lose their nerve one by one as they encounter a bat, (costumed) monster and other Halloween standbys. Schulman (Countdown to Spring! ) composes another zippy countdown, playfully listing the frights. In appealing pictures as smooth and bright as candy sprinkles, Davick (Ready, Set, Grow! ) crafts each child's costume and provides details (such as a licorice-black cat) unmentioned in the bouncy rhyme. Ages 3-8. (Aug.)