Scary Stories

Eeek! Yikes! The approach of Halloween provides a fine excuse to read about things creepy, crawly and the tiniest bit spooky.

Here’s a wonderful selection of shivery new titles for youngsters.

“The Teeny Tiny Ghost,” by Kay Winters

Here’s one for the teeny tiny children who may be a teeny tiny bit scared of Halloween.

It’s about a timid teeny tiny ghost who went to school with the other little ghosts to learn about Halloween. “He had never been out on that night, but it sounded very scary.” Every time he practiced his boos and howls, he had to hide his teeny tiny head. On Halloween night there’s a big RAP TAP TAP on his teeny tiny door and some big voices crying “Let us in.” They won’t go away, so finally he musters all his power for a huge “BOO!” In come all his friends and his teacher, cheering for him.

The pictures, again by the talented Lynn Munsinger, are winsome and funny. Being scared of Halloween is common for preschoolers. This book could serve as clever, subtle biblotherapy. (HarperCollins, ages 3 and up, 32 pgs., $14.95.)

“The Halloween House,” by Erica Silverman

Pity the two escaped convicts, who duck into an old house to hide. They have no idea that it’s haunted. This is a perfect example of a book where the pictures and the words both have to be there.

Silverman never mentions the bad guys in her ingenious counting rhyme. Jon Agee’s wonderful, funny illustrations support the rhyme and add the parallel story. The story is great for reading - or singing - aloud. The rhyme is based on the old song “Over in the Meadow,” with ghosts, howls and rafters replacing the turtles, quacks and nests. Instead of counting up from one, here it’s a countdown from 10, a set-up for all the ghoulies to disappear as the sun rises. (Farrar Straus Giroux, ages 3 and up, 32 pgs., $15.)

“Bugs!” by David T. Greenberg

Insect-rights activists may not like this one. Nor did my genteel 11-year-old daughter: “It’s really gross, Mom.” But I loved it, and so did the second-grade class I shared it with. “Try millipedes for dental floss, Feel them scrape away the moss; Drop one down your sister’s pants, Watch her do the boogie dance.”

There are many pages in this vein, featuring an astounding variety of insects, from tse-tse flies to ticks, which are barbecued, ridden and used to decorate Christmas trees.

The boy protagonist gets his comeuppance in the end when he’s taken as a bug pet, then mounted using bubble-gum and tacks. Lynn Munsinger’s illustrations are bright, detailed and hilarious. In one, an elegant scorpion in a string bikini is eating “Potato Bug Chips” and reading a fashion magazine called “Bugue.”

Greenberg, a Portland resident, wrote the equally disgusting, and very popular, “Slugs!” (Little, Brown, all ages, 32 pgs., $14.95.)

“Mummy Riddles,” by Katy Hall and Lisa Eisenberg

What did the doctor tell the little mummy at her check-up? “You grue-some!”

Get ready to groan if you give this volume to a child you plan to see regularly. New readers enjoy riddle books because they can be read in short bursts. This one is part of a well-done series in the Dial Easy-to-Read collection. Look also for “Batty Riddles,” “Grizzly Riddles,” “Spacey Riddles” and “Sheepish Riddles.”

“Mummy Riddles” has bright, funny illustrations by Nicole Rubel. (Dial, age 6 and up, 48 pgs., $12.99.)

“The Reptile Ball,” by Jacqueline K. Ogburn

My genteel 11-year-old liked this poetic tale which takes place “on the autumn night of the Hunter’s Moon, in a secret, elegant underground room.”

Many kinds of reptiles and amphibians are featured, also different types of dances and a nicely written poems in varying styles. A glossary that includes real information about the reptiles would have been been more interesting had it included information about the dances and poetry, too.

A Rosy Boa, used to being “king” of the dance floor, gets the blues when a whiptail lizard tap dances in. The rowdy gila monsters don’t dance; they just come for the food. There’s a “Toad and Frog Reel” and an “Iguana Quadrille.” John O’Brien’s watercolor and pen illustrations are both lovely and whimsical. (Dial, ages 5 and up, 32 pgs., 14.99.)

Two fine new books have also just been released about two other October holidays. “Day of the Dead,” by Tony Johnston. El dia de los muertos, one of Mexico’s most important holidays, begins on Oct. 31 and ends Nov. 2. It’s a time to remember loved ones who have died, and includes special foods and candlelight processions to gravesites. This is a charming, beautifully presented little book, illustrated by Jeanette Winter and sprinkled with Spanish words. (Harcourt Brace, ages 5 and up, 32 pg., $14.)

“On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,” by Cathy Goldberg Fishman. Unfortunately, this book arrived too late for a review to appear in this column before the Jewish High Holy Days this year. But it’s good that it has arrived at all.

Very few children’s books exist on these important Jewish holidays, while stores are full of books on the lesser celebration of Hanukkah. This is a beautiful and informative book that does a fine job of explaining the traditions of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Soft, elegant illustrations are by Melanie W. Hall. (Atheneum, all ages, 32 pgs., $16.)