THREE LITTLE GHOSTIES

Goodhart spins several stanzas from a snatch of nursery rhyme with this tale of three ghosties, “eating burnt toasties, / telling big boasties” and then setting out to scare some “girlsies! Yeah, and boyses too!” Cantone’s googly-eyed, comical figures are sure to inspire plenty of giggles, and so will the extended wordplay: Ghostie Number Two, for instance, emits a “BOOOO!” that causes “some mean witches / sitting in dark ditches, / lipsticking their lipses, / plotting evil trickses” to jump with the “frighties” and fly off in their “nighties / to hide in the deep dark wood.” The child they try to scare, though, turns out to be waiting for them, and after a helter-skelter flight back to their posties, “sucking on their thumbsies, / waiting for their momsies,” it’s off to bed. Fine fare altogether for young readers more comfortable with feigned fright than the real sort. (Picture book. 5-8)