This column is part of a series of recommended board book roundups, formerly published twice a year, now published every season. You can find the previous installments here. Don’t miss Viki Ash’s primer “What Makes a Good Board Book?” from the March/April 2010 Horn Book Magazine.

Halloween ABC
by Sarah Albee; illus. by Julia Woolf
Random     26 pp.
7/15     978-0-553-52422-2     $7.99

In this board book version of the Little Golden Book (published in 1993, re-illustrated in 2009), each letter of the alphabet features a cheery child dressed up in a Halloween costume beginning with that letter, along with brief alliterative text. The children start out all bright-eyed at A, but by R they’re beginning to wind down: “The rumpled rabbit is ready to rest. The spooky skeleton is sleepy.” At Z, of course, everyone’s asleep: “Zzzzz.”

Kitten’s First Full Moon
by Kevin Henkes
Greenwillow     36 pp.
9/15     978-0-06-241710-7      $8.99

Why didn’t they think of this sooner? The board book version of Henkes's 2005 Caldecott winner is pure perfection for its pre-reader audience (then again, the picture book version was pretty perfect, too). Kitten’s small adventures are well contained on the sturdy pages, with the black-and-white illustrations — a mix of panels, full pages, spots, and spreads — a beautiful complement to Henkes’s spare, straightforward text.

Fall Is Here!
by Frankie Jones; illus. by Fhiona Galloway
Little Bee     16 pp.
7/15     978-1-4998-0110-1     $5.99

 

 

 

Where’s the Pumpkin?
by Frankie Jones; illus. by Fhiona Galloway
Little Bee     16 pp.
7/15     978-1-4998-0097-5     $5.99

In Pumpkin, cat Spook wants to find a pumpkin but doesn’t know exactly what one is, mistaking an apple, some eggs, a tractor wheel, even a baby deer for the desired fruit before stumbling into the pumpkin patch (“Pumpkins everywhere!”) Fall finds a dog and cat pair enjoying the season: “It’s time for friendly scarecrows…crunchy acorns…bright, orange pumpkins…spooky costumes…We love fall!” Both books, with their wide-eyed creatures, are very simple and mildly engaging.

It’s Haunted!
by Christopher Santoro
Random     12 pp.
7/15     978-0-553-52370-6     $7.99

Enter a house where little hands can find “35 Spooky Flaps to Lift!” throughout the haunted dwelling. Each spread is a different, crowded room, littered with silly-creepy — and some actual-creepy — items: a skull floor lamp in the study, squid tentacles and eyeballs in the kitchen… It’s a good mix of Halloween horror and giggle-worthy search-and-find for very young trick-or-treaters.

Seven Orange Pumpkins
by Stephen Savage
Dial     30 pp.
8/15     978-0803741386     $6.99

This board book version of Savage’s Ten Orange Pumpkins counts down from seven (instead of from ten; fewer pages in the board book): “Seven orange pumpkins, / ripe for treats and tricks. / Tonight will be a spooky night. // Yikes! There are 6.” The story ends with a black cat (who’s been an observer all along) discovering the last pumpkin, now a jack-o’-lantern: “Here it is, / all aglow. / Happy Halloween!” Flat black silhouettes stand out beautifully against the bright, richly hued backgrounds that lighten the mysterious mood.