VERA'S HALLOWEEN

Little sister Ruthie is going trick-or-treating before dark, but this year Vera gets to join older sisters June and Elaine with their father in “the spooky night.” All wrapped up in her toilet-paper mummy costume, she rejects her mother’s offer of a winter coat: “Mummies don’t wear snowsuits!” At first all is well, but when Vera stops to rewrap a bandage, she loses track of her family and then her way. It begins to rain, then snow, and suddenly Halloween isn’t so much fun anymore. Rosenberry has her finger on the pulse of children’s anxieties—Vera’s unhappy adventure and its comforting resolution is on just the right scale for preschoolers. (Picture book. 3-6)