Annie was Warned

September 1, 2003
PreS-Gr 3-Annie is warned not to go to an old mansion on Halloween night because of bats and spiders, but a friend taunts her, "I dare you to go!" Of course she does, experiencing some frightening moments on the way. She sees something out of the corner of her eye: "Was it a bat?" She feels something prickly on the back of her neck: "Was it a spider?" What are those whispers she hears as she climbs up the front stairs, and where did those cautionary signs come from? The brief text is appropriately scary, and the resolution of each suspenseful moment requires a page turn, culminating in a delightful foldout surprise as plucky Annie enters the "haunted" house. Krosoczka's richly textured, double-page cartoon paintings, executed in a dark palette filled with multidirectional brush strokes and ominous-looking shadows, create an eerie Halloween night atmosphere. The effective use of perspective causes houses and glaring street lights to overwhelm Annie and the huge mansion to loom over her, its entrance stairway appearing to go forever upward. The hand-lettered, spidery-looking negative print is placed on dark ground and grows larger when frightening questions are posed. This deliciously scary offering, paired with Linda Williams's The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything (HarperCollins, 1986), is guaranteed to haunt Halloween storyhours.-Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community College, CT

Copyright 2003 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2004
Annie was warned not to visit the Montgomery mansion, but on Halloween (her birthday) night, she sets out with a flashlight for this haunted house. Bold, shadowy illustrations take Annie down dark streets, through a graveyard, and to the mansion, where she finds--in a foldout spread--a surprise birthday party. The narrative effectively builds suspense to the predictable but still satisfying conclusion.

(Copyright 2004 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)