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On a Windy Night

by Nancy Raines Day
40p. 978-0-81093-900-4.
COPY ISBN
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
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.
Reviewed by Linda Ludke , Oct 01, 2010

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