(++++) SWEETLY SPOOKY

Trick or Treat on Scary Street. By Lance Bass. Illustrated by Roland Garrigue. Union Square Kids. $18.99.

     For anyone looking to chill a bit during a hot summer, what could be better than a Halloween-themed book designed to produce shivers? Certainly kids ages 4-8 will find Lance Bass’ Trick or Treat on Scary Street pretty cool in any season. Actually, to give credit where it is due, it is Roland Garrigue’s perfectly evocative and deliciously not-too-frightening illustrations that are the main attraction of the book, which accompanies a group of trick-or-treaters – 13 of them, of course – as they follow their leader, a child suspiciously attuned to all things dark and dismal, along a street populated by ghosties and ghoulies and things that go “hi there!” in the night.

     There is nothing wrong about Bass’ narrative of the walk along Scary Street, but his rhymes are rather, well, prosaic: “No tricks allowed, just juicy treats./ Move quickly now, my little sweets –/ Or you’ll miss out on Scary Street.” It is what Garrigue shows that really enhances the writing, in highly detailed illustrations packed with what the original creators of Mad used to call “eyeball kicks” (an appropriate thought for Halloween). These are the tiny little illustrative elements that have nothing to do with the story, specifically, but that are fun to find and that enhance the overall atmosphere. There is the super-long snake glancing at the group of kids while entwined among the open windows of two floors of a building, the crocodile peeking out from inside a doghouse, the smirking three-headed carnivorous plant watching the children arrive at a turreted house that bears a frieze of a two-headed dragon above the front portal, the giant frog hopping out of a manhole (froghole?), the neon shark sign atop one building, the six-eyed monster eating in a café called (of course) “Monster Burger,” and much more.

     As the kids proceed along Scary Street, taking in all the sights and stopping at houses reminiscent of Dracula’s castle, the “Hansel and Gretel” witch’s candy cottage and so forth, young readers will surely notice that there seem to be fewer children marching along behind the enthusiastic child narrator as the pages progress. Bass says nothing about this, but Garrigue conveys the diminishing group of kids clearly as the story progresses: “Don’t bother stopping. Walk right in./ But good luck getting out again.” Eventually, “at a secluded woodland drive,” a full moon appears and the narrator is transformed, smiling more broadly (and toothily) than ever – and, winking as he enters a final house (in front of which there is a dog dish containing bones and bearing the name “Wolfy”), says, “There’s no way home from my deceit.”

     And then, of course, everything turns to laughter and fun and the clear realization that all the Scary Street stuff is there for the children’s amusement – and all 13 of the kids are shown at a “Halloween Disco” hosted by various spooky characters from earlier pages but clearly being thoroughly un-terrifying (and featuring some decidedly normal-looking snack foods). Garrigue’s uniformly dark tonal palette in the book is cleverly altered for the final two-page spread to a brighter but still suitably Halloween-ish set of colors that show it is still very much nighttime, even if Scary Street is not quite so scary at the end as it seemed to be during the walk along it. And in a particularly nice touch, the far-right side of the last page shows a door with the very clear word “Exit” above it and an arrow pointing outward – just in case young readers might be concerned about whether there really is a “way home” after the Halloween adventure. Trick or Treat on Scary Street is fun from start to finish, written with clarity and pleasant bounciness and illustrated with an outstanding understanding of the balance of frights and fun that makes Halloween so enjoyable for so many – in any season.