THE ZOMBIE NITE CAFÉ

Here’s an eatery that stands out from the crowd—not only for its menu, which features Chicken McMaggots and Eyeballs Flambé, but also for a clientele that runs to vampires, ghouls, aliens, specters and less identifiable uglies. Though Kutner has a tendency to force the rhymes (in what is supposed to be a couplet, the Bogeyman arrives “To celebrate one more birthday / In the Zombie Nite Café”), Long depicts a rib-tickling gallery of comically oogy, popeyed customers oozing or staggering through the door to place orders or make for the “All U Dare To Eat” buffet. The boy narrator who wanders in gets a hostile reception—“ ‘What do you want?’ the waitress said. / She glared at me and scratched one head”—and beats a hasty retreat, but readers will definitely be tempted to linger. (Picture book. 6-8)