Shake a leg? Cut a rug? Trip the light fantastic? These are not the usual steps a skeleton makes -- unless he's "Boogie Bones." Author Elizabeth Loredo has created a fun-loving, fear-deflating character in her new picture book, starting with the simple statement, "Boogie Bones loved to dance."
Readers will be hooked as they follow old Boogie, dressed incognito, to the local dance contest. As he lingers behind the potted palm, he sees dance partners doing the cha-cha, then a tango. He can't resist the music, grabs a partner and dances to the crowd's admiring comments. That leads to a mambo, a rumba, a waltz.
Alas, the band begins to play "Jumpin' at the Woodside," Boogie Bones' favorite tune. That is his undoing, literally, as he dances until his clothes come off and scares the dancers away. It looks as though Boogie's chance to win the contest is zip -- until little Maggie Brown comes forward. "I'm not afraid of any old bones!" she says, and Boogie returns to the graveyard with a trophy and a big smile.
Published in time for Halloween, this story is sure to please little readers on a year-round basis. Kevin Hawkes' illustrations are wonderfully done (nothing very scary here) as they move from cemetery-dark to the bright yellow interior of the dance hall.
But it is Loredo's story that makes "Boogie Bones" a super read. Her turn of phrase, her half-serious tone, her allusion to Fred Astaire make this skeleton scenario as much fun for adults to read as for children.
Etta Wilson is children's book editor of BookPage.
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