These three new picture books from Harper Collins are wonderful entries in the Halloween parade of books.

In Mia: Time to Trick or Treat!, Mia, her mother (Mrs. Cat) and a wonderful menagerie of friends ranging from hippos to giraffes all dress up as matching ballerinas--or at least they try to. The book includes a full page of stickers with Halloween themes: jack-o-lanterns; false teeth; bats, ghosts and more. Meant for readers from 3-5 years old.

Just Say Boo! tells mini-trick-or-treaters Halloween etiquette. They learn when to say Boo, Trick-or-treat and Thank you; designed for readers ages 3-8.

And in the board book It's Pumpkin Day, Mouse!, Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond's infamous tiny Mouse decorates seven pumpkins by painting different faces on them. This is for very young readers from 1-4 years.

These fun books should prove to be delightful diversions for aspiring readers.

Just in time for Halloween come four wonderfully written and illustrated books for the kids. This quartet of scary stories are aimed at middle-grade ages from about 7 to 12 years old.

Coraline author Neil Gaman has created books for both children and adults, and consequently his 10th anniversary rerelease of the book brings in a more mature approach to the writing. The little heroine here steps through a door to find a house strikingly similar to her own. The mother and father in this alternate world want to keep the little girl for their own, so Coraline must use all her courage and intelligence to battle her way back home.

Scary School 2: Monsters On the March is a tale about some wonderful little students who end up in Monster Forest, where they are confronted with characters such as Captain Pigbeard, Princess Zogette an the mysterious bearodactyls. This is the follow-up to Scary School and the return of Charles, Penny Possum and Dr. Dragonbreath.

Always October is about a strange world of the same name where monsters live and adventure begins. There is danger abounding, narrow escapes and the eternal fight between light and dark on these pages--not to mention a young boy who may or may not turn into a monster.

Invisible Inkling: Dangerous Pumpkins is the second in this series about a boy and his invisible buddy. It is Halloween, and fourth-grader Hank Holowitz isn't happy about it at all. But the little man has a secret--he has an invisible pal, and this unseen person absolutely adores All Hallows Eve.

All these books are fun and witty and will keep a middle-grader absorbed for hours. Better they read than eat candy, right?