Books that go boo, with a smile, for kids

The same question can be heard in school hallways across the country this time of year: What are you going to be for Halloween?

But author Shirley Neitzel and illustrator Nancy Winslow Parker turn the table in “Who Will I Be?” (Greenwillow, ages 4 and up, $12.99).

In the new holiday book, a little girl gets a last-minute invitation to a party. She needs to create a costume with items she already has on hand, including pink, lace-trimmed pants, a cat-print scarf and a frilly shirt with beads of pearl. She does it in the same way that many kids have packed their grandmother’s suitcase, repeating a series of rhyming items until her mission is accomplished.

Of course, when one leaves a little girl to devise her own costume, it might not emerge as a practical outfit. That’s when Grandma steps in with a Halloween treat of her own.

Madame Coco and her five precious pooches brighten up a rainy day with a bash in “The Costume Party” (Kane/Miller, ages 5-9, $15.95) by Victoria Chess.

They rummage through bags of rags and scour the house from top to bottom in search of outfits. One dog ends up a nurse, another a pirate and yet another as a rose.

Madame Coco, meanwhile, has the butcher deliver some snacks.

But when it comes time to judge the costume contest, Madame Coco can’t decide whose is best, so she gives them all a prize to share – a new kitty.

They all have such a good time at the party, they make it an annual tradition whether or not it’s raining cats and dogs.

“Dora’s Costume Party” (Simon Spotlight, ages 3-7, $3.99) by Christine Ricci and illustrated by Zina Saunders brings together all her friends (and familiar faces to young readers from her Nick Jr. cartoon). Tico dresses up as a cowboy and Grandma comes as a pumpkin. Dora’s costume is a flower.

But Dora’s best friend Boots can’t decide on one costume, so he wears many, arriving as a clown-baseball player-superhero-monkey.

Firefighters, princesses, dinosaurs and devils take to the streets in “10 Trick-or-Treaters: A Halloween Counting Book” (Alfred A. Knopf, ages 3-8, $8.95) by Janet Schulman and illustrated by Linda Davick. But by the end of the night, only one brave trick-or-treater makes it home with a full stash of loot since her pals were scared off one by one.

A pair of plain-faced sisters try to outdo each other with outlandish outfits in “The Scary Show of Mo and Jo” (Running Press, ages 4-8, $18.95) by Hanoch Piven. They turn household items into costumes of a fire-breathing dragon and a roaring lioness. But the competitors turn to comrades when they hear a noise from below – which turns out just to be baby brother Bo.

You wouldn’t think a dinosaur would need a costume to look scary, but T.Rex is convinced he does in “T.Rex Trick-or-Treats” (HarperCollins, ages 3-6, $12.99) by Lois G. Grambling and illustrated by Jack E. Davis. That is until he sees that kids drop their treat bags and run whenever he smiles and shows off his toothy grin.

The cast of characters in “Halloween Night” (Doubleday, ages 3-6, $15.95) by Elizabeth Hatch and illustrated by Jimmy Pickering is predictable enough. You’ve got your traditional pumpkin, bat, black cat and a child in a ghost costume.

It seems like a standard Halloween night until that child spills his treats and sets off an unlikely series of events – all of which can be recited to the tune of “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.”

Very young readers get a chance to play one of their favorite games with a witch, ghost, bat, jack-o’-lantern and scarecrow, among others in “Peek-a-Boooo!” (Dutton, ages 2 and up, $9.99) by Marie Torres Cimarusti and illustrated by Stephanie Peterson. Each page features a lift-the-flap playmate, encouraging interactive play.

Twin witches Delia and Ophelia try to spoil Halloween for all the kids in their neighborhood in “Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet!” (Blue Sky Press/Scholastic, ages 4-8, $16.95) by Lisa Desimini. They almost succeed: They whip up a potion so all the trick-or-treaters are downright rude when they show up on doorsteps, so the adults won’t give them candy.

But the witches get carried away and end up reversing the spell, so the children eventually get their candy and the witches are put in their place.

A group of youngsters convince themselves they’re not afraid of a skittle-skattling skeleton or a misty, ghostly ghost in “We’re Off to Find the Witch’s House” (Dutton, ages 3 and up, $12.99) by Richard Krieb, an elementary school teacher for almost 50 years, and illustrated by R.W. Alley.

They do indeed make it to the doorstep. Inside they find all their other friends, including one wearing a pointy black hat and a long, green nose who casts a very large shadow.

Papa Bear has good intentions but he ends up scaring everyone – even himself – as he takes his duties setting up a haunted house too seriously in “The Berenstain Bears Go on a Ghost Walk” (HarperCollins, ages 3-7, $8.99) by Stan and Jan Berenstain.

Luckily he heeds Mama’s advice (“Don’t you remember what I said about one person’s fun being another person’s nightmare?”) in time to pull off a great event and a great Blackbear the Pirate outfit.

The dainty ghost who floats around in Berlie Doherty’s “Jinnie Ghost” (Frances Lincoln, ages 4-8, $16.95) is a kind ghost who turns children’s nightmares to sweet dreams. She’s not scary looking, either. Jane Ray has drawn a fairylike character with long hair, bare feet and silver eyes.

Little Nell doesn’t pick the prettiest pumpkin in the patch; instead she wants “The Bumpy Little Pumpkin” (Scholastic, ages 4-8, $15.95). The book is by Margery Cuyler and illustrated by Will Hellenbrand.

Unlike her sisters, one tall and one round, Nell is small. Her pumpkin is, too. Her sisters scoff at it, but once Nell and her animal friends carve and decorate it, Nell’s mother reminds all the girls that beautiful jack-o’-lanterns come in all shapes and sizes.