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Picture Books     picture books ages 9-12 for teens Georgie by Robert Bright Amazon.com Grownups will shiver with delight when they recognize this old favorite. Georgie the mild-mannered little ghost has been around for over half a century, his gentle ways happily haunting generations of children. Georgie is quite content with his quiet routine in the home of the Whittakers. Every evening he creaks a loose board on the stairs and squeaks the parlor door. This is the cue for Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker to go to bed, Herman the cat to start to prowl, and Miss Oliver the owl to wake up.     A Beasty Story by Martin Bill, Jr. Amazon.com "In a dark, dark wood there is a dark, dark house..." So begins this tongue-in-cheek rodent tale of intrigue. Four brave and curious mice follow the trail of a big, scary beast, down the dark red stair, into the dark blue cellar, inside the dark green bottle in the dark purple cupboard. Young readers will squeal in delighted fright when the yellow-eyed monster ("A BEAST!") flies out and across the cellar, up the stairs, out of the house, and into the night.     The Halloween Play by Felicia Bond Amazon.com Roger is listening carefully backstage. The auditorium is packed. Three more lines, then two, then one, and he's on! Roger the mouse has a very important role in the school Halloween play, even if it is the smallest part. He and his classmates have practiced for days to get all their moves just right. And tonight they'll reap the rewards with their runaway success.     Hogula : Dread Pig of Night by Jean Gralley Amazon.com "He snorts, you snooze! Beware Hogula, Dread Pig of Night..." Brought to life by the comical, exaggerated illustrations of Jean Gralley (And Twelve Chinese Acrobats), this particular vampire pig can send anyone who's up past bedtime into a "deep, snoring, piggie-snoozie snooze" with just a snort from his snout. But Hogula has a problem: this fangful hog has no friends.     One Halloween Night by Mark Teague Amazon.com "Anything can happen on Halloween night," Wendell warns his friends Floyd and Mona when a black cat crosses their path. And remarkable things certainly do happen. At first it's pretty benign stuff--Wendell's mad scientist outfit has gone pink in the wash, Floyd dons a pirate costume only to discover he has to take his baby sister trick-or-treating ("'Pirates don't have little sisters,' he complained"), and Mona's mother forces her to dress up as a fairy princess.     Midnight in the Cemetery : A Spooky Search-And-Find Alphabet Book by Cheryl Harness Amazon.com "Briars and brambles grow all around/ This oogly-boogly burial ground./ Where black bats swoop without a sound/ And a bandit's treasure might be found!" Warning: This book is truly scary! It is also a spectacular work of art. Two children, "double-dog-dared" by older boys to dig for buried treasure in a graveyard, get far more than they bargained for when they disturb a pirate ghost. Dead Ed and his ghoulish cohorts explode from the earth.     Froggy's Halloween by Jonathan London Amazon.com Froggy is distracted. At home his mother has to remind him to do his homework, and at school his teacher chides him for not paying attention. But how can he? Halloween is next week and he must come up with a great costume. How about Super Frog? "Flying high over the city. Faster than a dragonfly! Stronger than a bullfrog!" Or perhaps something scarier: Count Von Frogula! But then his mom reminds him that vampires have fangs, and that Froggy is a toothless wonder.     The Halloween House by Erica Silverman Amazon.com If you were an escaped convict, where would you choose to hide from the law? Be warned, The Halloween House is not a good choice. This delightful, rhyming counting book gleefully guides children from one nocturnal creature family to another, starting with a litter of ten werewolves.     The Spirit of Tio Fernando : A Day of the Dead Story/El Espiritu De Tio Fernando : Una Historia Del Dia De Los Muertos by Janice Levy From Booklist , November 15, 1995 "The Day of the Dead is a time to remember people who have died, whom we will always love," Nando's mother tells him as they prepare to celebrate the holiday and honor Tio Fernando, who died six months earlier. After they decorate a makeshift altar, Nando's mother sends him to buy things that remind him of his uncle to take to the cemetery that night.     The Ghost of Sifty Sifty Sam by Angela Shelf Medearis Amazon.com It seemed like there was no one brave enough in all of East Texas to spend the night in the creepy old mansion haunted by Sifty Sifty Sam. Even the $5,000 reward wasn't enough for most folks to attempt such an ordeal. That is, until a determined chef named Dan, armed with only "a bushel of groceries, a slab of fatback, and a frying pan," gathers his courage and prepares to spend the night.     Zoom Broom by Margie Palatini Amazon.com Gritch the Witch is hungry and her batscotti and eek!spresso snack isn't quite doing the trick. She wants a more filling, furry snack. She wants bunny. On her way to the Farmer in the Dell's rabbit-ridden place, she and her broomstick experience a crash landing, shortly after her old broom stalls in midair: "It spit. Sputtered. Coughed. Chugged. Choked. And then it gave out a long gasping, gurgly gurgle, did one loop-d-loop, and tailspinned toward ground zero."     The Widow's Broom by Chris Van Allsburg Amazon.com "Witches' brooms don't last forever. They grow old, and even the best of them, one day, lose the power of flight.... On very rare occasions, however, a broom can lose its power without warning, and fall, with its passenger, to the earth below ... which is just what happened one cold autumn night many years ago." So begins The Widow's Broom, the gentle, strangely captivating book by Chris Van Allsburg, who received Caldecott medals for Jumanji and The Polar Express.     John Pig's Halloween by Jan L. Waldron Amazon.com "It was cool and hazy on Halloween night / The silvery moon shed a ghostly white light. / As the fog billowed in and bats flitted about, / Trick-or-treat piggies got dressed to step out." So begins John Pig's Halloween, Jan L. Waldron and illustrator David McPhail's monster-rich holiday alternative to the popular Angel Pig and the Hidden Christmas. John Pig, curled up in the shadows as his buddies don towering chapeaus and tangerine bows, tells his fellow pigs he is too tired to go.     Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White Amazon.com Rebecca Estelle hates pumpkins. "What's not to like?" you may be thinking. Certainly, pumpkins are benign, as far as gourds go, and they make for delicious pies. But if you were forced to eat only pumpkins (baked, steamed, boiled, stewed, mashed, and rotten), you might agree with Rebecca, who was so poor as a child that she could only afford to eat the unrelentingly orange squash.