Cookie Boo

On Halloween, when Little Monster lifts the lid of a cookie tin, seven holiday-themed cookies spring to life and escape out the front door. “Down through the garden,/ out into the street,” the googly-eyed, frosted confections (a pumpkin, bat, mummy, ghost, skeleton, vampire, and black cat) shout “ ‘Boo!’... to everything they meet,” scaring off much larger, costumed trick-or-treaters. When Little Monster gives chase, the cookies take refuge in a jack-o’-lantern before heading back through the neighborhood and into their tin. Paul concocts chirpy verse with some catchy wordplay (“ ‘Boo!’ says Little Monster,/ tricking all the treats./ ‘Yummy scrummy cookies!/ Now you’re mine to eat!’ ”), and her wildly expressive, sharply focused cookie characters are scene stealers, animating this brief, sprightly holiday caper. Ages 4–8. [em](July) [/em]