His wonderful illustrations for this book are seductive and might well convince young children to try and fly! I can imagine the danger involved should a young child take this book to heart. I would be less reluctant to highly recommend this book if it weren't squarley aimed at impressonable young children.

This early book by Lane Smith gives insight into what was to come later with The Stinky Cheese Man and The Happy Hocky Family. A classic!

Lane Smith is a ridiculously talented illustrator and writer. Each book I have read by him is endlessly witty and intelligent, while being no less asthetically pleasing. What an asset to children's literature he is!

This book was not for a young child to read. Do not recommend at all.

As a big fan of Lane Smith's work, I was instantly attracted to this book. A collector of Halloween picture books, I knew that this book would be a frightfully, wonderful addtion to my collection. The illustrations of this book set the right eerie tone for Halloween. Eve Merriam's poems are wonderfully sinister! I am a 6th grade teacher and will definitely read some of the poems to my class during Halloween week, however I would not recommend this book for young children. The tone of the book is not just scary but sinister, the letter D for instance should never be read aloud to students. It speaks of the demonic characters Beezlebub and Satan. The illustration is wonderful but the words are not appropriate for students. The other letters are not as evil but still conjure up creepy thoughts about Halloween. This is a wonderful addition to a Halloween collection that will be kept on my personal shelf for me to read aloud.

Poet, Eve Merriam, and award winning illustrator, Lane Smith are back with a new "spooked-up" addition of their 1987 stunner, Halloween ABC. Step carefully through this alphabetical collection, if you dare, and read each bone chilling poem. From apples, bats, demons, and ghosts, to nightmares, skeletons, vipers, and witchery, Ms Merriam's rhythmic, rhyming poems are filled with macabre imagery and dark magic that are sure to set your knees knocking, and make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Mr Smith's brilliantly detailed, dark and somber artwork, has been digitally redesigned by Molly Leach, and kids will be mesmerized with each page turn. Perfect for Halloween, or any other terror-packed, moonless night, Spooky ABC is a timeless masterpiece to read aloud and share with friends and family now, and future generations in the years to come.

Be careful! The graphic details of horrible acts and images of demons may not be something that you would want your 4 -8 year old to conjure up when they think of their ABCs.

I don't usually write reviews but after seeing the opinion of the reader from SC who negatively reviewed Eve Merriam's work, I felt a need to express my own opinion. Merriam is a thought provoking and controversial poet. Her work, although in picture book format is intended for older readers. The illustrations are incredible and enrich the text beautifully. Fans of Lane Smith will enjoy this earlier work. Again, 1 star is an unfair judgement. Amazon should not list this book for readers 4-8 but then again, caregivers should always make their own informed decisions. I don't know about "getting deep down in your spirit" but the subject matter is definitely for older readers and highly entertaining. I hope some of you will take the time out to get to know this amazing poet. Always controversial!

(...) There is just something of a mismatch between format and audience: The fact that this is in an ABC format makes it seem suited at first glance to ABC-age children.

The compact poetry of Eve Merriam and sophisticated illustrations of Lane Smith (done before he was famous) make this a great book for older children who enjoy a slightly gruesome edge to their humor --think the movie Beetlejuice, for example.

Lend a copy to the ten-year-old in your life.