Pumpkin Eye

All the glorious, spooky, swoopy delights of Halloween congregate on one street for one perfectly bone-chilling night in Caldecott Honor artist Denise Fleming's splendid Pumpkin Eye. Gorgeous, thick pulp paintings depict jack-o'-lanterns, bats, dragons, and toothless hags, while clever, memorable rhymes capture the very essence of Halloween: "Trick or treat-- / pounding feet, / wretched witches / roam the street." Fleming's evocative language and imagery fill the pages with clacking bones, blood red nails, muffled moans, eerie shadows, and the burning wicks of candlesticks. Her unusual illustrations, made by pouring colored cotton fiber through hand-cut stencils, are just right for the subject matter, lending a thick, dark, mysterious quality to the trick-or-treaters, moonlit night, and close-up pumpkins. This is another stupendous picture book from the creator of the Caldecott Honor Book In the Small, Small Pond, as well as The Everything Book, Mama Cat Has Three Kittens, and many others. Pure, blood-curdling delight. (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter