(3) PS Illustrated by Marc Boutavant. Children imagine themselves "for just one day" as bunnies, bears, and porcupines, among other creatures. The brief rhyming text in this game of let's-pretend is sprightly: "Or maybe I'll just flutter by / and be a monarch... / butterfly!" Whimsical retro pictures show kiddos with clothes or features that mildly resemble the animal they wish to be.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kyle M. Stone. A young boy describes life at sea with his pirate papa, including treasure hunting and plundering. The spare, jaunty verse reveals that even a tough guy can be tender when it comes to his son. Deep browns and vivid blues dominate the illustrations, reinforcing the idea that the dark life of a pirate certainly has its bright spots.

Reviewer: Sethany Rancier Alongi

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Gris Grimly. This story of two young monsters preparing for a visit from Santa Claws is best for those who like their Christmas creepy, as the monsters hang oozing "blistertoe" and smelly stockings, decorate a dead pine tree, and help make disgusting holiday treats. This irreverent rhyming send-up is accompanied by cheerfully spooky, spidery-lined illustrations, including imaginative mock advertisement endpapers (mail-order witch, anyone?).

Reviewer: Mark Adam

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Scott Nash. "She takes us out for recess time / to jump and play in piles of slime." With snappy rhymes, our fur-faced narrator matter-of-factly describes his green reptilian teacher. My Beastly Brother's creators get it right again: Leuck limits the fear factor to a "blood-filled pen," and Nash's characters (one has a giant-eyeball head with ponytails) are as funny as they are creepy.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by S. D. Schindler & S. D. Schindler. "One witch / on a hill / had an empty pot / to fill." She collects tasty tidbits from two cats, three scarecrows, all the way up to ten werewolves. Then she concocts an "oozing stew" and invites her friends to share it. "Everybody loved it too!" The delightfully eerie ink and watercolor illustrations complement the jaunty Halloween counting rhyme.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(3) PS Illustrated by David Parkins & David Parkins. Enter the monster preschool, and you'll find monsters of twenty-six varieties, every one with a peculiar trait: "Ann has alligator skin. / Bud grows toadstools on his chin" and so on through the alphabet. The bright illustrations aptly capture the energy level of active preschoolers. A silly ending will make readers giggle.

Reviewer: Hilary Breed Van Dusen

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Scott Nash. A young monster tells the down side of having an older brother, such as being forced to wrestle in poison ivy or having insects dumped down his underpants. But there's a positive side, too, as when the older monster comforts the younger one when he has a nightmare. The dynamic cartoon illustrations complement the simple rhyming text with much humor.

Reviewer: Mark Adam

(3) PS Illustrated by Nigel McMullen. This rhyming book bids goodnight to a number of young creatures, from ghosts to werewolves to vultures. It's amusing to see each not-very-scary creature in its own environment--slime for the swamp-thing, a cozy coffin for the mummy. At the end, in a nice touch, most of the "spooky babies" show up as toys on the windowsill of a human child's bedroom.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(3) PS Illustrated by Mark Buehner. A rhyming text shows how a monster mama lovingly combs cobwebs from bangs, takes her darling swimming in the swamp, and sings lullabies "of things that shriek and moan and creep." Buehner's lively illustrations are filled with suitably spooky details, yet the bright colors and humorous creatures keep the art and story light enough for preschoolers.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin