The Ghosts Went Floating

Favorite children’s counting song “The Ants Go Marching” gets a sweetly spooky makeover in this vibrant Halloween rendition. The titular ghosts, floating one by one (“BOO-rah! BOO-rah!”), are joined by two cackling witches, three stumbling mummies, and an assigned number of other characters until they form a parade heading “up the hill/ in the chill,/ by the light of the moon,/ moon, moon, moon.” In addition to showcasing numbers one through 10 and a solid array of monsters, Norman’s bouncy text laudably introduces a colorful variety of ambulatory verbs (among them lumbered, lurched, plodded, and swarmed). Fleck uses a pleasant palette and simple lines to create friendly-looking subjects on the move, in and out of moonlight and shadow and toward, in the closing pages, a festive Halloween fete. Ages 3–6. [em](July) [/em]