THE HOUSE OF BOO

A spooky Halloween poem, well-matched with dusky, windswept gouache illustrations illuminated by moonlight and pumpkin glow: “Boo Scoggins lived on Humpback Hill/Above the misty water mill./His house was lit by pumpkin-light;/His songs were sung by whippoorwill.” Lending a flowing coherence to the tale of three gutsy trick-or-treaters is what Lewis explains is the Rubaiyat rhyme scheme, but with linked stanzas. The trick-or-treaters approach Boo Scoggins’s haunted house not only once but twice, hoping to sneak up on the phantom and catch him by surprise. With scudding clouds, gauzy curtains, and dancing leaves blowing in the wind, shadowy phantom figures, and candle-lit bats, KrÇnina renders an eerie setting for those sheet-draped children venturing through the night. (Picture book. 5-8)