Mouse's First Halloween
By Lauren Thompson (Simon & Schuster, $12.95, ages 3 to 6)
"One spooky night when the moon was bright, Mouse crept around, and this is what he found." So begins this guessing game of sorts that runs through a list of typical fall symbols. Mouse wonders about the flit, flit, flit of something flying (bats), the plop, plop, plop of something dropping from a branch (apples), and the creep, creep, creep of something sneaking near the wall (kittens). Upon discovery of each item, Mouse decides: "That's all. Not so scary after all." Mouse stumbles upon young-child-friendly Halloween objects that keep the spook to a minimum.

Pumpkin Moonshine
By Tasha Tudor (Simon & Schuster, $12.95, ages 3 to 6)
First published more than 60 years ago, this is the reprinting of Sylvie Ann's adventure on her Grandmummy and Grandpawp's farm in Connecticut. She finds the finest, largest pumpkin and begins to roll it home - until the vegetable gets away from her on a hill and terrorizes the farm animals and "Mr. Hemmelskamp who was carrying a pail full of whitewash!" Our heroine is a "very polite little girl" who apologizes to Mr. Hemmelskamp and the animals and then, with Grandpawp, creates a fierce and horrid Pumpkin Moonshine to frighten passers by.

Elwood and the Witch
By Nicholas Heller (Greenwillow Books, $15.95, ages 5 and up)
Elwood finds a broom in the forest one night and takes it, thinking it will come in handy for his housework. Elwood quickly finds himself flying through the air as an angry witch snarls and hurls spells that narrowly miss the little pig, who wants nothing more than to get back on land and away from the broom. The moon comes to his rescue and everything gets sorted out. The illustrations by Jos. A Smith are delightful and make the story more appealing.

Boo Who? And Other Wicked Halloween Knock-Knock Jokes
By Katy Hall and Lisa Eisenberg (HarperFestival, $6.95, ages 5 to 8)
Two children wander through a haunted house full of flaps that lift and unfold to reveal the punch lines of corny knock-knock jokes. "Knock, knock! Who's there? Ivana! Ivana who? Ivana velcome you to our home!" And be prepared to twist your thinking around a few name distortions: "Warren who? Warren Halloween costumes is fun!"

A Know-Nothing Halloween
By Michele Sobel Spirn (HarperCollins, $14.95, ages 4 to 8)
Boris, Morris, Norris and their dog, Floris, decide to celebrate Halloween. They want to bob for apples but they're not sure "Bob" will come with the apples. They don't know any tricks to get a treat, but Floris has a "great trick" of standing on four legs. They even misunderstand costumes when a fourth friend, Doris, arrives home wearing one. It takes a special sense of humor to enjoy these silly friends.

If I Were a Halloween Monster
By Robert Moler (Little, Brown and Company, $13.95, ages 6 to 10)
Two peepholes in the middle of the book require readers to look through eight pop-up masks into a mirror to decode the story's spooky parts. The narrator endlessly lists all the noises and frightening gestures he'd be able to make if he were a witch or a ghost or a vampire or several other Halloween creatures. Instead, the narrator is a mummy and humorously reveals at the end why any other costume would be better.

Halloween Hotel
By Sean Diviny (HarperCollins, $15.95, ages 4 to 8)
A family has a reservation at the Halloween Motel for Oct. 31 and discovers that the motel is everything they wanted for fun - from the missing neon letters in its sign to Frankie Stein, the desk clerk, to the skeletal waitress and the kicking bed. But the kicker comes when Frankie and the guests let the family know that they've been parading around the Holiday, not Halloween, Motel and are unwelcome.

The Boy of a Thousand Faces
By Brian Selznick (A Laura Geringer Book, $14.95, ages 10 and up)
Born on Halloween, Alonzo King has always loved monsters: He can name every monster movie ever made and the actors who portrayed the beasts, and he transforms his face with paint, makeup and tape to photograph his 1,000 different faces. His only problem is that he barely has 23 photos. So he writes to Mr. Shadows, the host of a TV program that runs old monster flicks, and makes a plea. Mr. Shadows answers in a touching, realistic way. Selznick's black and white portraits bring an intimacy to the story that makes it more appealing.

The Nightmare Room Series: Don't Forget Me! and Locker 13
By R.L. Stine (HarperCollins, $3.99 each, ages 10 and up)
Formulaic, yes, and pretty corny, too, but the first two in the series aren't so bad if your reader is looking for suspense. In the first book, Don't Forget Me!, 16-year-old Danielle wishes her pesky younger brother had never been born, and she discovers after a botched hypnotism that he's gradually being forgotten. Luke is highly superstitious, and his luck gets worse when he gets Locker 13. Each chapter ends with a cliffhanger that will either make you give up or keep turning.