The great zombie pumpkin parade!

"Fear and fright!/ Brag and boast!/ On Halloween night/ who's got the most?" Following a spread showing a sun-kissed pumpkin patch at dusk, this Halloween extravaganza from collaborators Burleigh and Minor presents a parade of comically ugly, jack-o'-lantern-headed zombies lumbering across its pages. Rhyming lines introduce the figures: "First in line is/ Drizzle-Mouthed Drumpkin," who drools and carries a pitchfork; "Right behind is/ Zipper-Toothed Zumpkin," whose carved face sports one closed eye and a saw-toothed jaw. The humanoid beings, portrayed with tan hands, are clothed in ragged, alternatingly gray and black clothing that occasionally bears rust-hued traces. Marching across the handsome autumn countryside, the text asks readers to weigh in: "Who's the scariest?/ Creep and crawl!/ Who's the strangest/ of them all?" Though language warns readers to "beware, be wise!" the procession reads as more inviting accounting than genuine threat, especially as the parade winds down into a graveyard snooze. Ages 4--8. (Aug.)

In propulsive rhyming verse and spooky watercolor and gouache illustrations ("mixed with digital"), readers are introduced to the participants in a parade of zombies with jack-o'-lanterns for heads -- Slime-Faced Sumpkin, Ghoul-Eyed Gumpkin, Crush-Headed Cumpkin, etc. -- who march through the countryside on Halloween night. They return to the pumpkin graveyard at dawn, but "watch out, my friend, / beware, be wise! / This isn't the end -- / the zombies will rise." Burleigh and Minor's latest collaboration (Breaking Waves and Wilbur Wright Meets Lady Liberty, both rev. 5/21) is perfect for young readers who enjoy a bit of "shiver and quiver" in their picture books. Martha V. ParravanoSeptember/October 2023 p.22 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.