A creepy, wry ghost story. Willie McPhee has fallen on hard times. Finest bagpiper in all Scotland or not, if folks don't have a farthing to spare for amusement, a man could freeze. Now, wandering near--shoeless in the dark heart of the cold woods, Willie McPhee has fallen on something else-- a tree trunk, he thinks. But a closer look reveals it's a man, a DEAD man, lying in the snow. A--A--A--aaaaaah! A poor man is a practical man, though, and that body is wearing a fine--looking pair of boots. Soon Willie's feet are warm... but who's that tapping on the door?
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
DeFelice and Parker (previously paired for The Dancing Skeleton) join forces again, this time to polish up a Scottish ghost story. When ragged, penniless Willie McPhee, "the finest bagpipe player in all of Scotland," stumbles across a dead man in the forest one snowy night, he helps himself to the boots. Unfortunately the man's feet come with them, snapping off when Willie tugs on the frozen legs. But "a poor man must be practical, after all," and Willie carries off the boots (and feet). Later he decides to play a trick on a heartless farmer who grudgingly sends him to the barn when he asks for shelter: Willie arranges the now-thawed feet to make it appear that their cow has eaten him. The horrified farmer and his wife quickly bury the evidence, but when Willie comes out of hiding and pipes a farewell tune atop the "wee small grave," they flee, thinking him a ghost. In the end, a bona fide ghost does appearDto Willie. DeFelice pitches this deliciously eerie tale in the kind of cadence and language that make for a grand read-aloud (e.g., the near-shoeless Willie goes "flip-flap, flip-flap, flip-flap down the road"), and she neatly preserves the regional flavor ("Och! They were fine-looking boots, they were!"). Beautifully set off by the understated book design, Parker's watercolors rank with his finest. The blotted impressionistic colors and scrawled lines are both edgy and amusing, while the cool gray tones create an appropriately chilly backdrop for the spooky antics. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-6-This ghost story for the strong of stomach features a bagpiper by the name of Willie McPhee. Hard times have forced him to seek a place where people can afford his entertainment. Months pass. His boots are "more holes than leather." Alone, hungry, and tired, he trips on what he soon realizes is the frozen body of a man whose boots are too fine to leave behind. He can't remove them until he drops the man's leg, which then snaps in two. Carrying the boots (and feet within them) tied around his neck, Willie seeks shelter on a farm, only to be told by the inhospitable owner to sleep in the barn with the cow. In the morning, Willie plays a trick on his mean-spirited host and places one foot in the cow's mouth, the other beside her. The shocked farmer quickly buries the feet, and when Willie reappears to play his pipes on the grave, the man and his wife take off, never to be seen again. Later that night, as Willie enjoys the cozy warmth of the farmhouse, a footless stranger appears at the door. So ends the tale. DeFelice's language, tone, and pacing capture the essence of the oral tradition while Parker's dark and stylized watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations reflect the playfully somber mood of the story. This is a yarn meant to amuse as well as frighten, and it succeeds at both.
Alicia Eames, New York City Public Schools
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Alicia Eames, New York City Public Schools
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Award winner,
By A Customer
This review is from: Cold Feet (Hardcover)
Cold Feet was awarded the Boston Globe's Horn book award for this year. The book is a droll, macabre tale with just the right mix of humor and gore to delight kids. Bob Parker's paintings keep it vigoruos and fun.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great storytelling,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Cold Feet (Hardcover)
This is a most wonderous take on a traditional Scottish folk tale. This story begs to be read aloud and works wonderfully in storytelling sessions.
Willie McPhee gets more than he bargins for when he takes the boots off a man he finds frozen in the woods. The story has a nice "gross-out" element that will appeal greatly to kids. DeFelice tells the story with excellent pacing that sets the reader up for the payoff at the end. Robert Andrew Parker's sketchy ink and watercolor gives the story movement and allows the reader to fill in with their own imagination.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Logical,
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This review is from: Cold Feet (Hardcover)
I enjoyed the writing and the illustrations very much, and I liked the way the story developed quite logically, with cause-and-effect consequences. But when the corpse came to reclaim its feet, I felt let down. Nothing in the story prior to this had prepared us for the final page: there were no hints that the corpse might come alive, no foreshadowing. The ending seemed tacked on just to be macabre.
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