THE BONES OF FRED McFEE (Paperback)

Voyager Books, 2005. 1st Paperback Edition 10th Printing. Soft cover. New/No Jacket Issued. Kurt Cyrus color illustrations. CONDITION: NEW 2005 Voyager paperback, first PB edition, 10t printing. Delightful color illustrations by Kurt Cyrus. CONTENT: Stories in Rhyme deluxe. "There's a skeleton high in our sycamore tree,/High as high can be./He was hung up there by my sister and me,/High in our sycamore tree." With this spooky refrain, Bunting opens her ambiguously creepy tale. Strange things have been happening since the children brought the skeleton home, named it, and hung it up. The dog and rooster won't go near the tree, and the bones rattle and chatter in the dark, gusty night wind. The story, told in rhyme, keeps readers on the edge of their seats: is the skeleton made of plastic, as the children believe, or is it real? Cyrus's detailed, realistic illustrations, done in scratchboard and watercolor, are appropriately dark and are a perfect complement to the subtly scary mood of the text. Though this book is set near Halloween, children who enjoy a good shiver will want to read or hear it year-round. oh - And then on Halloween night, Fred vanishes! K - 4+