The DANCING SKELETON - Hardcover

Defelice, Cynthia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0027264521 ISBN 13: 9780027264524

Publisher: Atheneum, 1989

Synopsis

An ornery dead man refuses to stay in his coffin and causes a disturbance when the best fiddler in town comes to call on his widow

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2-6-- "Aaron Kelly was dead," the story begins, ". . . And, to tell you the truth, nobody much cared." For Aaron was ornery and mean, and everyone, especially his wife, was glad to see him go. But back from the graveyard Aaron returns, and soon his skeleton sits in the rocking chair "just a-creakin' and a-crackin' and a-grinnin'." There's not much his poor widow can do, at least not until the best fiddler in town comes to call. Readers and listeners alike are sure to respond to this folktale. DeFelice's experience as a storyteller shows up on every page. Bursting with vitality, her rhythmic prose captures the vocabulary, tone, the very cadences typical of the oral tradition. "Crickety-crack, down and back! Old Aaron went a-hoppin', his dry bones a-poppin'." Robert Andrew Parker's watercolor illustrations are just right. Done in shades of soft yellow, orange, tan, gray, and black, they manage to heighten the absurdity of the story plus hint at its underlying sinister theme. The Dancing Skeleton is as close to perfection as these things come. --Ellen D. Warwick, Robbins Lib . , Arlington, MA
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

When Aaron Kelly dies and is buried, he up and leaves his grave, sits in his rocker and eventually turns into a skeleton. His widow, in the meantime, would like to be courted by a fiddler, but Aaron's presence is a bit discouraging to the would-be lovers. Only when the fiddler plays--and Aaron dances himself to pieces--can the widow go on with her life. But the fiddler is too spooked to carry on with his courting. Crackling good storytelling is ill-served by the choice of Parker as illustrator. His soft watercolors, normally so evocative of the text he's illustrating, work against the comic tone of this particular tale, and reduce the funniness to a maudlin state. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0027264521
• ISBN 13: 9780027264524
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32