cover image Trick or Treat, Old Armadillo

Trick or Treat, Old Armadillo

Larry Dane Brimner, illus. by Dominic Catalano, Boyds Mills, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-59078-758-8

While the bespectacled armadillo from Merry Christmas, Old Armadillo waits for his Halloween visitors indoors, his friends are gathering outside in their costumes. Catalano's atmospheric pastels show both the indoor and outdoor activities: "Inside... Old Armadillo listened. He peeked out the window. Then he returned to pacing. Outside... A vampire crept among the shadows." When the party guests come inside, Old Armadillo has a costume of his own to share. Laced with Spanish words, Brimner's prose creates a quietly spooky mood for this distinctive Halloween tale. Ages 5–7. (Sept.)