From Publishers Weekly
Certain to bring on a shiver or two, this volume presents a tale from Irish folklore, which Hague embellishes with suitably shadowy, eerie watercolors. The opening image effectively conveys the story's chilly soon-to-be chilling setting: the craggy, cloud-filled coast of Ireland where Kate Culhane lives. Tending to her recently deceased mother's grave one evening, lonely Kate inadvertently steps on a newly dug grave, which holds her fast. Her "bones cold with fear," the girl unwittingly follows a voice's instruction to "Open this grave for me." The bony, ghost-like man who emerges forces her to carry him on her back to the home of a wealthy merchant. There the spectral creature cuts the fingers of the merchant's three sleeping sons with a sharp knife, draws blood and leaves his victims lifeless. Though Hague's pictures do not portray the details of this gruesome act, they are sufficiently lifelike to be a wee bit scary especially the image of the villain trying to pull Kate into the grave with him. But the tale ends happily, as Kate outwits the dead man and finds love and wealth and Hague at last has reason to add smiles and sunshine to his convincing illustrations. Ages 7-10.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Gr 4 Up-Kate outwits a ghost and her own ill-fortune in this retelling of a traditional Irish tale set in the mid-1800s. After she steps on a newly filled grave, the dead man forces her to care for him by preparing oatmeal mixed with freshly drawn human blood. By pretending to eat her share while secreting it away in her scarf, she provides the means of reviving the young men whose blood she has drawn. Subsequent quick thinking on her part secures a rosy future for herself. The watercolor illustrations draw on the dark end of Hague's usual earth-tone palette and depict a desolate village and eerie graveyard. The dead man's ragged clothing, clawlike hands, and gaunt face match the text for spine-tingling appeal. As in the best folktales, the telling retains a consistent sense of time and place in both the text and the illustrations. A note names Jeremiah Curtin as the tale's original collector. Other less lyrical versions include "Mary Culhane and the Dead Man" in Molly Bang's The Goblins Giggle and Other Stories (Peter Smith, 1988) and Robert San Souci's "The Blood-Drawing Ghost" in Even More Short and Shivery (Delacorte, 1997). From the haunting endpapers on, this fluidly retold and memorably illustrated tale is perfect scary-story fare for middle-grade programming.
Faith Brauti-gam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
