It begins with a ham sandwich, unfairly bartered in the boisterous Montross Middle School cafeteria. Molly is loud, outgoing and enthusiastic about anything fall- or pumpkin-related. Adam, on the other hand, is the new kid in school, somewhat shy and withdrawn, and oddly terrified of pumpkins.

Adam, by the way, is the one who comes out short in the sandwich trade.

After a school altercation lands Adam, Molly and Bruce, the local school bully, in Principal Prouty's office, Adam is ordered to assist Molly with preparations for the Friday Night Fright Night, which precedes the town's massive annual Pumpkin Festival. For Adam, it is a special circle of Hell.

Pumpkin Apocalypse, by M.D. Payne, is a young-adult novel set in a town obsessed with Halloween. Molly's grandfather, aka Gramps, is the local grower and purveyor of pumpkins, and therefore something of a celebrity at this time of year, but Adam -- who explains that a childhood trauma involving a pumpkin and a mean older stepbrother left him with an unshakeable phobia -- can barely stand to see or smell the festive gourds without dissolving into full-blown panic mode.

Molly tries to break him in gently, through decorations and an impromptu pumpkin-carving lesson, but it ends badly. Adam is resolved to make it through the school and community festivities with gritted teeth, but there is no way he's going to enjoy it.

Then the town is overrun by pumpkin-shaped aliens that mind-control its residents into drooling zombies. Adam is frantic, but it's his fear that just might keep him alive. Unfortunately, it's also his ability to resist the mass hypnosis that draws the attention of the Great Pumpkin who leads the invasion.

Pumpkin Apocalypse is a lively little Halloween story that offers a few genuinely frightening scenes that might give very young readers a nightmare or two, but it's mostly fun and fairly lowkey. Payne, who has also written a couple of books and a goofy/spooky, young-adult series called Monster Juice (with titles such as Fear the Barfitron, Zits from Python Pit and Boogers from Beyond), maintains a consistent sense of humor among his main characters, particular Adam and Molly, to keep the tone from becoming too intense.

With the power of friendship -- and a particularly sturdy, well-appointed RV -- Adam has a shot at not just surviving, but at defeating the invaders once and for all.

But, oh, then there are those last two seeds....