Skelly’s Halloween would be the perfect book for the young Halloween crowd. They will enjoy the silly antics that go along with a sweet story of a skeleton that just wants to go trick-or-treating as he is only awake for this one day. And all he wants to do is to celebrate Halloween. However, he has an accident that just makes him go all to pieces! And well….it takes more than the all the kings horses and kings men to put Skelly back together again. It takes a clever group of well-meaning friends and some clever children to help Skelly out.
The story that David Martin presents is a classic nursery rhyme (Humpty Dumpty) with a modern twist (spoiler: he can be put back together properly). There also is the modern feel to the language making it accessible to all ages. The illustrations are also in a contemporary format and are fabulously done by Lori Richmond. They are spooky and silly without being too much of either. Yet, they are sweet enough that the child will be able to not be afraid of the bumps in the night.
Perhaps the most fun part of the story is when Skelly is trying to decide what he wants to be for Halloween. And due to the antics of years past the savvy reader will realize that even if a ghost is the perfect costume, things will not go as smoothly as hoped.
Laugh-out-loud and even a tiny bit of crude humor at the end (anyone remember a rhyme about stinky feet?) will make this a year-round treat.