Happy Halloween, Punnyboppers! For this episode of Mini Media Mogul, Sarina and I have picked out three picture books perfect for the season.

Over in the Hollow

By Rebecca Dickinson, Illustrated by Stephan Britt (Chronicle Books, 2009)

Do you know the classic rhyme "Over in the Meadow?" That’s what inspired Over in the Hollow - it has the same rhyme scheme and children-echo-their-parents format, but with a Halloween twist. The characters in the book are a mother and daughter spider ("'Spin,' hums the mother/'I spin,' hums the one"), a mummy dad and his kids, plus families of owls, vampires, bats, witches, and so on. Appropriately for the holiday, this counting book goes up to the number thirteen.

The illustrations in this one are busy and energetic -cluttered, even, but still cute. It's nice to have a book that not only mentions mommies and daddies, but also grandparents and an aunt and uncle. It’s also easy to sing along with if you know the melody of the original.

Mouse's First Halloween

By Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Buket Erdogen (Simon & Schuster, 2000)

This is one of Sarina's favorites all year round. It's one of the "Mouse's First" series, which follow a curious young mouse on his brave adventures. In this one, he creeps around the house and hears all sorts of strange noises. "Eek!" he squeaks each time. "What could it be?" Children are given little clues in the pictures to help them guess what's coming. Then Mouse finds out what's making the noise - kittens, falling leaves, Trick or Treaters - and declares each time, "That's all. Not so scary after all."

The illustrations are richly painted, though sometimes just a bit hard to decipher because of the dark palettes. And the only part of the story that surprised me was the very first discovery: "Swooping bats! That's all. Not so scary after all." I don't know about you, but I find a bunch of swooping bats pretty scary.

My daughter had this book memorized after just a few readings, and she would giggle with delight every "Eek!" and smile for every sound effect. I'd recommend it for younger kids than the book suggests; it was perfect for my two-year-old.

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

By Linda Williams, illustrated by Meghan Lloyd (HarperCollins, 1988)

In this long-loved story, a spunky little old lady is on her way home through the woods when a pair of shoes comes to life and begins following her. "Get out of my way!" she tells the shoes. "I'm not afraid of you." The shoes follow her anyway, and then comes a pair of pants - and a shirt, gloves, shirt, and so on. Each new item has its own sound ("wiggle wiggle," "nod nod," "shake shake"), and each time something new arises, the little old lady again proclaims she is not afraid of it.

The final object is a floating pumpkin head... which causes her to run into her house (even though she is NOT AFRAID… liar, liar, pants on fire). They're all pretty bummed that she refuses to be afraid, until she comes up with a solution: they can form themselves into a scarecrow and scare the birds away from her garden.

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything is a great book for toddlers and young kids, who will enjoy echoing and acting out the sounds, and will appreciate that the illustrations really aren't scary. You can even get it in a book-and-CD combo format.

Do you have a favorite Halloween read for kids? Share it in the comments!

Jenna Glatzer (www.jennaglatzer.com) is the author of 19 books. Her most recent collaboration is Unthinkable with Scott Rigsby, the first double-amputee to finish the world-famous Hawaiian Ironman triathlon. Jenna lives with her two-year-old daughter in New York. - Jenna Glatzer