Montes, Marisa. Illustrated by Yuyi Morales. 2006. Los gatos black on Halloween. New York: Henry Holt and Company. “In a slow and strange parade”, a menagerie of creepy creatures advances on a haunted mansion. In Los Gatos Black on Halloween, Montes cleverly uses rhyming verse to create an eerily humorous Halloween book with surrealistic illustrations that bring her words to life—or death. The curving lines and muted colors in the illustrations add to the ghostly feel of the text, which slithers and curves throughout each page. Just as readers begin to enjoy the songs played on harpsichords by “unseen dedos—fingers” and giggle at the las brujas boogying, the muertos bopping and the esqueletos doing the hop, the three sharp knocks at the door bring anticipation to a climax. The shout of “Trick or Treat” echoes through the mansion and frightens all the monstrous into retreat, leaving readers with the explanation that there is nothing more frightening to monsters than human ninos on Halloween. Although younger readers may find Los Gatos Black a bit too frightening to read alone, it provides a great opportunity for a read aloud and a time for a spine-tingling enjoyment of one of the scariest days of the year.