A vegetarian vampire with a sweet tooth and a large-mouthed creature with a big appetite and his own eating stool are among the playful and ghoulish standouts in the stacks for kids this Halloween.
For more tender trick-or-treaters, there's plenty of books without a fear factor, including a tale of a dear old cat still learning how to live in her third century.
As Halloween has grown long spidery legs over the years, becoming the premiere fall holiday, parents are faced with piles of creepy-crawly reading options for their kids. Here are a few worthy of a look:
"CAN YOU SEE WHAT I SEE? ON A SCARY SCARY NIGHT," by Walter Wick, Scholastic, $13.99 (ages 4-8)
The award-winning illusion photographer marks the 10th anniversary of his "Walter Wick's Optical Tricks" with a special edition of the mind-bending classic and this new puzzle release out for Halloween. The zoom-in, 12-scene Halloween narrative invites the sharpest eyes to search a cloud-shouded moonscape for a wizard and a craggy castle for a lizard's tongue. Inspired by the folktale "In a Dark, Dark Wood."
"BONE SOUP," written and illustrated by Cambria Evans, Houghton Mifflin, $16 (ages 4-8)
Playfully paranoid townsfolk hide their most precious pantry staples when a voracious part-skeleton named Finnigin hits town on Hallows Night. With his eating stool, spoon and very large mouth, Finnigin kicks off a retelling of the stone soup folktale with a magic bone and some imported stewed eyeballs. Drawn with a colorful, contemporary edge.
"VUNCE UPON A TIME," by J.otto Seibold and Siobhan Vivian, illustrated by J.otto Seibold, Chronicle Books, $16.99 (ages 4-8)
Dagmar the boy vampire doesn't get out of the castle much. He's shy, and he's a vegetarian, so he doesn't need to forage beyond his moonlit garden. But he's also a candy-holic. So when a little skeleton turns him on to a thing called Halloween that has humans handing out piles of the stuff, he overcomes his fear of the living and learns a thing or two about kindness.
"CAT NIGHTS," written and illustrated by Jane Manning, HarperCollins, $16.99 (ages 3-6)
Ever wonder why cats have nine lives? Manning bases her witch Felicity on an Irish legend that lends insight. We catch up with Felicity on her 263rd birthday, the year she gets to fulfill her life's ambition: find out what it's like to be a cat, with four-paw drive and a long, beautiful tail. But that means a dustup with three loving cousins.
"QUEEN OF HALLOWEEN," written and illustrated by Mary Engelbreit, HarperCollins, $16.99 (ages 4-8)
Inspired by illustrations in her mother's vintage storybooks, Mary Engelbreit adds to her popular series featuring her young alter-ego, the blond and bespectacled Ann Estelle. Dressed for Halloween as a Fairy Queen, Ann sets out with a pirate pal to trick-or-treat. Are they brave enough to take on a house with creaky porch steps and a barking dog?
"HALLOWEEN NIGHT," by Marjorie Dennis Murray, illustrated by Brandon Dorman, HarperCollins, $16.99 (ages 5-9)
Dorman's bold, flowing drawings of little green creepies and a sharp-nosed witch preparing for a party are meticulously detailed in this Halloween version of the "Night Before Christmas." Ooey gooey goodie bags are stuffed, a bevy of banshees serve up moldy green tea and goofy, toothy giants prepare a buffet of bugs.