A skeleton-costumed boy journeying home through the dark on Halloween night becomes increasingly anxious as the wind rises, leaves rustle, and a voice whispers, “CRACKLETY-CLACK. BONES IN A SACK. THEY COULD BE YOURS—IF YOU LOOK BACK.” Nancy Raines Day’s rhyming text will have readers and listeners on the edge of their seats as the boy’s walk home is punctuated by dramatic encounters and the ever-more-insistent bony refrain. George Bates’s digitally enhanced pen-and-ink illustrations help balance the tension in this marvelous mood piece. His beautiful, night-shaded artwork is full of playfully haunting images—bat-shaped branches, an owl-shaped cloud, and leaves that have whirled into a not-too-frightening ghost. A final encounter with a hairy beast that turns out to be the boy’s sweet-faced cat grounds the drama of a breathless journey in the landscape of its protagonist’s imagination. (Ages 5–8)

On a windy Halloween night, as a little boy makes his way home after trick-or-treating, he hears a voice:

"Cracklety-clack, bones in a sack. They could be yours--if you look back." As his heart flip-flops with fear, the boy dashes through woods and fields that seem full of haunting shapes--owls, ghosts, skeletons, and more. The detailed illustrations are packed with visual tricks for children to discover. Are those skeletons or cornstalks? Ghostly hands or tree branches? The playful tone of the text makes this a perfect, not-too-scary read-aloud, with an enjoyable surprise ending.