Ghost Train: A Spooky Hologram Book

Wyllie and Lee will enthrall even the most jaded reader with this macabre marriage of art and story. Headless Hector, the Gray Lady and the Silver Skeleton haunt Ravenswick Castle four hundred years ago and do their job so enthusiastically that before long no one will set foot inside: When the roof fell in, we had to admit we were out of a job, the Skeleton sadly concludes. Then the trio of tricksters search for a new home, eventually turning their terrifying talents to good use at an amusement-park attraction. Well-written and droll as Wyllie's narrative is, it's hard to tear oneself away from the illustrations, dotted throughout with holograms to convey the spectral characters. Tilt the book and a seemingly three-dimensional Hector, his grinning head cradled in one arm, appears to pivot; a frizzy-haired Lady waits past a window; a gleeful Skeleton strokes the cheek of a lady, who promptly slaps her dinner companion's face (We laughed so hard we nearly lived, says the Skeleton). Cutouts optimize the effects of the holograms in a superb deployment of this art form. Ages 5-up. (Sept.)