Skelly's Halloween

July 2, 2018
Even ghouls encounter Halloween wardrobe malfunctions. Soon after an eager skeleton named Skelly decides a ghost is the perfect Halloween costume, his bedsheet gets caught in a momentary updraft and he crashes to the ground in pieces. A snake, an ant colony (all wearing construction hats), and a chicken all take a turn at putting Skelly back together again, but each species has a different idea of what a reassembled skeleton should look like: “Wait a minute. I’m not supposed to have a tail,” he tells the snake. Luckily, a group of human trick-or-treaters finds the sad pile of bones that Skelly has become (“I’m like Humpty Dumpty”), and after overcoming their initial fear (“Bones!” “And they talk? Run!”), they put Skelly to rights, using the diagram on one kid’s skeleton costume as a guide. Generously scaled cartooning and sweet-natured humor make this title ideal for inaugural Halloween adventures. Ages 4–8.

July 1, 2018

PreS-Gr 2-Halloween is always an exciting holiday for children and skeletons, too. Skelly, the narrator, has been asleep all year because skeletons can only come to life on Halloween. This Halloween Skelly is looking for the perfect costume. After running through his past choices that did not work out well, Skelly decides to be a ghost. This seemed to be the perfect costume until a gust of wind flew him up into the air. When Skelly landed, he was broken into many different pieces. Several animals came by and tried to put Skelly back together again, but could never find the right order. It looked like going trick-or-treating was not going to happen for Skelly this year! Luckily, a few children were walking by, and one of the children had on a skeleton costume. Together the children put Skelly back together and they all went trick-or-treating! The illustrations are cute, but not outstanding. VERDICT While not among the great Halloween books out there, this one is a fun addition, especially for children who like lighthearted nonscary holiday fare.-Nicole Detter-Smith, Homestead High School, IN

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2018
"Head and shoulders, knees and toes. / Trick-or-treating, here we goes!"Skelly Bones Skeleton is excited for Halloween; after all, skeletons sleep the whole rest of the year, so he likes to really live it up on Halloween. But what should his costume be this year? Not a witch--he couldn't stay on the broomstick. Not a monster--too scary. A ghost! In no time, he's ready to go. Only he hadn't planned on the wind, which catches his sheet and lofts him up and then drops him...in separate pieces. And in a twist that will remind readers of "Humpty Dumpty," the other trick-or-treaters can't put Skelly back together correctly--they make him look like them: a snake, an ant, and a chicken. Finally some human kids come by. They're at first scared by the pile of bones (more so when it talks!), but Skelly convinces them he's friendly and needs a hand, and once he's back together, they all set off trick-or-treating together. Richmond's illustrations, done with pen and ink, foam stamp, and Photoshop, use a palette heavy on purple, orange, and green. Skelly's personality shines, his eyebrows and mouth doing much of the emoting. The skeleton is an unconnected group of bones, most long and skinny save for the pelvis, which resembles tighty whities, and the skull. The three children include a brown-skinned girl skeleton, a pale-skinned pirate with glasses, and a beige-skinned chef.A Halloween anatomy lesson sure to tickle funny bones. (Picture book. 4-7)

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July 1, 2018
Grades K-2 When a mishap leaves Skelly the skeleton just a random scattering of bones, a succession of passersby offer to put him back together. First, he asks a snake to give him a hand, but being snake-shaped isn't right. Similarly disappointed to be reassembled as an ant and then a chicken, he moans, I'm like Humpty Dumpty. But then along comes a trio of costumed children, and in next to no time, Skelly is again himself. Off he goes with his new friends shouting the traditional Trick or treat, smell our feet, give us something good to eat! Richmond sets these cartoon goings-on in misty, moonlit surroundings, but depicts Skelly in a nonscary way, even when properly put together as a sketchy assortment of separated bones topped by a fleshed-in skull with glowing green eyes, eyebrows, and a toothless, usually smiling, mouth. Skelly may not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but he's a true object lesson in just being oneself. No bones about it, the holiday-themed hilarity will leave young audiences chortling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)