three little ghosties swap “big boasties” of their most frightening moments. With a cat-who-ate-the-canary grin, the first recalls scaring “ghoulsies/ sitting in their schoolsies.” The second ups the ante by sneaking up on some witches, and the third says he startled an ogre. Cantone (Pecorino Plays Ball
) creates bobbing and feinting movement in her gouaches with touches of glitter, collage layers of paper and variable display type. She pictures the floaty trio as jellyfish-shaped and transparent, with squinting capsule eyes, wide mouths and blushing cheeks. For all their gleeful braggadocio, these ghosts are mere pranksters. The tables turn when they go after human children, and a boy takes over the storytelling: “They thought I was asleep,/ so they started to creep..../ I sat up in bed and shouted 'Booo!' ” Goodhart's (Arthur's Tractor
) diminutives, though cutesy, contribute to a bouncy and mischievous Halloween tale. Ages 3-6. (Sept.)
