Safe and Silly Scares

BEASTLY RHYMES TO READ AFTER DARK By Judy Sierra. Illustrated by Brian Biggs | Knopf, $12.99 (furcover), $15.99 (hardcover); ages 6 to 8

The scariest thing about this collection of 11 cheeky rhymes may well be the deliberately hideous green-spotted faux fur cover. Fortunately for the faint of heart, it's also available in hardcover. Topics range from a "Lonely Giant Squid" ("I'll tell you why that squid's so blue:/You can't have friends and eat them, too.") to a seemingly innocent "Pet Show" ("Oh where, oh where can my kitty cat be?/She promised to go to the pet show with me."). Sierra is not afraid to reach for the unexpected rhyme -- gorilla/chinchilla, parasite/dynamite -- nor does she shrink from a little rude humor involving everything from bathrooms to the indelicate demise of Norman Noodlebutt. Brian Biggs's outrageously brash cartoons full of goggle-eyed creatures and gormless kids aren't beautiful, but they sure do suit the text. Still wondering where that kitty cat went? Look closely at the anaconda. . . .

BONE SOUP By Cambria Evans | Houghton Mifflin, $16; ages 5 to 8

Familiarity with Stone Soup, the traditional tale of three hungry soldiers who trick an entire village into making soup for them from a pebble, isn't absolutely necessary to enjoy this deliciously shivery send-up . . . but it adds to the fun. The fright-inducing cover sports a greenish moon-shaped face, an eyeball floating in a spoon and the title spelled out in (what else?) bones. Inside, readers meet the rest of moon-faced Finnigin, whose stubby square teeth, squashy body and striped stockings resemble a ladybug gone haywire. Finnigin is looking for a feast. When the witch, mummy, beasts and zombies that he encounters claim they don't have anything for him, he resorts to trickery. The solution involves bat wings, spider eggs, toenail clippings, frog legs and other ghastly ingredients. The double-page spread of the pot filled to the brim with green goop is guaranteed to elicit groans. The illustrations, which borrow paneled layouts and speech balloons from the comics, are filled with tiny visual jokes. Kids will eat Bone Soup up.

LITTLE MOUSE'S BIG BOOK OF FEARS By Emily Gravett | Simon & Schuster, $17.99; ages 5 to 8

At first glance, this book seems to have led a very hard life: a ragged hole in the cover, dog-eared pages and water-stains galore. All the deliberately designed dings and frazzled edges form a visual metaphor for what anxiety can do to a body. A tiny mouse admits, "I get edgy near sharp knives." The accompanying illustration turns the disastrous docking of the three blind mice into tabloid headlines. Elsewhere, the diminutive rodent whimpers, "I don't like being alone, or in the dark," as it stares slantwise at a coal-black page. Best of all, the double-page spread on which the mouse cries, "I'm scared of getting lost," is a pun-filled fold-out map of the "Isle of Fright." Witty names for these worries -- for instance, whereamiophobia -- appear across the top of each page, lending a pseudo-scientific cachet to this catalog of fears. Neither condescending nor frightening nor falsely comforting, this gentle book approaches a serious subject with humor and compassion. Too bad the final page settles for the tired old stereotype of a woman jumping on a chair when our hero comes to call.

GHOSTS IN THE HOUSE! By Kazuno Kohara | Roaring Brook, $12.95; ages 3 to 5

Drenched in orange and drawn in black, this small square book features an intrepid girl, her loyal cat and a host of swoopy, swingy ghosties who haunt her new home. Undaunted by these half-transparent visitors, she dons a witch costume and promptly catches ghost No. 1. " 'How lovely,' she said. 'I hope there are some more!' " And, of course, there are. What does she do with them? Why, pops them in the washing machine and hangs them out to dry. Sparkling clean, they're transformed into smiling curtains and table cloths. At day's end, the final two make dandy blankets for bed and basket. The uncluttered illustrations evoke woodblock prints, and the higgledy-piggledy pointed house and sharply angled witch hat form a perfect counterpoint to the translucent flow of the otherworldly inhabitants. Brilliant star-flecked endpapers introduce the story and then change to a black night sky graced by a moon at the end. Delightful bookends for an utterly delightful book.

Kristi Jemtegaard is the youth services coordinator for Arlington Public Library. She teaches children's and adolescent literature and has served on both the Caldecott and Newbery Committees.