Halloween Pie

Six cemetery ghouls devour an aromatic pumpkin pie, unaware that a witch has hexed the dessert (""Protect this treat... for me alone to eat""). As banshee, zombie et al. enjoy a post-pastry siesta, the spell transforms them into baking ingredients. Tunnell (Mailing Mary) provides only tame surprises; a Halloween Pie recipe, at the end, turns out to be for an ordinary pumpkin pie. Working in shadowy ink crosshatching and oil wash, O'Malley (Leo Cockroach, Toy Tester) administers a scare with closeups of the slack-jawed, droopy-eyed midnight snackers. The story, like the pie, is lukewarm. Ages 4-up. (Sept.)