Happy Halloween, Pirates!

In this lift-the-flap book written in uneven verse, some friendly-faced pirates accept an invitation from a town’s children to come ashore for a Halloween bash. The captain, first mate, and cook plan their disguises (a ghost, a superhero, and a lobster, respectively) and make their way to the creaky front door of a purple haunted house, where they are welcomed inside for “apple cider, cakes, and marshmallows/ all laid out to share.” And before the celebration winds down, the landlubber party hosts reveal a swashbuckling costume of their own. Sturdy flaps offer a variety of revelations, including cause-and-effect moments, but many background characters appear inconsistently, and the sunny illustrations fail to buoy this lackluster tale of land and sea. Ages 3–up. (Aug.)