On a windy night

Nancy Raines Day

Book - 2010

On a windy Halloween night as a boy is returning home through the woods after trick-or-treating, he hears scary noises behind him.

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Subjects
Genres
Picture books
Stories in rhyme
Published
New York : Abrams Books for Young Readers 2010.
Language
English
Main Author
Nancy Raines Day (-)
Other Authors
George Bates, 1968- (illustrator)
Physical Description
unpaged : col. ill. ; 23 x 31 cm
ISBN
9780810939004
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

"Cracklety-clack, bones in a sack. They could be yours-if you look back," says a malevolent voice to a boy in a skeleton costume on his way home from trick-or-treating. Day (Flamingo's First Christmas) revels in Halloween's more frightening possibilities (though she avoids concrete mentions of the holiday), and her verse, while well-constructed, may in places put off very young or timid readers. "He reaches out and feels... a head!/ It doesn't move. It must be dead." (The head is actually a pumpkin, lying indolently on the ground with its tongue hanging out.) Bates's (Chicken Bedtime Is Really Early) pen-and-ink drawings push and pull, creating scariness with forceful hatching and eerie lighting. Clouds that first appear as puffy elephants, snails, and other nonthreatening shapes take more menacing form as the boy's fears grow; numerous other specters can be found in tree branches and blowing leaves, and when dancing skeletons in a cornfield seem to pursue the boy, he runs toward readers in terror. There's enough Halloween fright to satisfy adventurous young readers, and a comforting ending for those with jangled nerves. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 1-A costumed boy walks home through the woods on Halloween night. As "Clouds hide the moon-/and/in/creeps/fright," the trick-or-treater starts to hear a dire warning: "CRACKLETY-CLACK, BONES IN A SACK./THEY COULD BE YOURS-IF YOU LOOK BACK." As he races though the field, his mind plays tricks on him and he mistakes cornstalks for dancing skeletons and a giant pumpkin for a head. As his fear escalates, the rhyming refrain appears in a larger font size. The tension builds as a menacing shadow "rubs against his legs." With a sigh of relief, the "hairy beast" is revealed to be the family cat. There is another surprise when "CRACKLETY-CLACK" is heard once more inside the house-this time coming from a mouse nibbling its way through the boy's candy bag. The crosshatched pen-and-ink illustrations have a spooky appeal. Swaying tree branches take the shape of a cat and clouds appear as dinosaurs and ghosts. A rhythmic, atmospheric read-aloud.-Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review

After trick-or-treating, a wide-eyed boy walks home through the spooky woods. The clouds, leaves, and tree branches form menacing shapes, shown in Bates's increasingly creepy digitally colored pen-and-ink illustrations. Then "a whisper rustles in his ear... / Cracklety-clack, bones in a sack. / They could be yours--if you look back." It's a refrain that might well scare some kids at storytime. Copyright 2010 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

CRACKLETY-CLACK. BONES IN A SACK. / THEY COULD BE YOURSIF YOU LOOK BACK"propels the boy and the narrative, with each iteration growing in font size. Once home, the boy realizes the crackling skeletons were cornstalks, the severed heads merely pumpkins. But from the kitchen comes a sound... Bates supplies digitally colored pen-and-ink spreads, thick hatching emphasizing shadow. There is a disconnect, though, between text and illustration; the former suggests real menace, which the latter does not completely dispel, making for an uneven ending. (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.