cover image We're Off to Find the Witch's House

We're Off to Find the Witch's House

MR Kreib, , illus. by R.W. Alley. . Dutton, $12.99 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-525-47003-8

Four trick-or-treaters march along a hushed sidewalk, to rhythmic stanzas that can be whispered or spoken boldly: "We're creeping down the witch's street./ Which street? The witch's street./ .../ but we're not afraid./ No, we're not afraid." Newcomer Krieb uses ample repetition in a call-and-response reminiscent of "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead!" Paddington illustrator Alley pictures the children and an antic owl tumbling past "big Frankenstein,/ the herky-jerky, lurching kind" and "a mostly misty, ghostly ghost" to arrive at a holiday revel where the menaces are revealed to be comfortingly kid-size. Ages 3-up. (Aug.)