ONE STORMY NIGHT
by Ruth Brown & illustrated by Ruth Brown
The wind is howling, but a full moon shines the night the little white dog comes in the wrought-iron gate to explore a stately home dating back to Elizabethan times. The cat hisses; the big brown dog by the fire (under an old portrait of three children with a dog that looks like the visitor) awakes and barks; even an owl is uneasy at the little dog's passing. Then, at dawn, the dog goes to the church, leaps up to the recumbent statue of his master, and becomes stone—part of the effigy on his tomb. The brief, quiet text adds some pleasing shivers, but this appealing, wholly benign ghost story is best told in Brown's beautiful watercolors, in rich grays warmed with touches of moonlight and the fire's glow. The old house is cozily shadowed and spooky; the animals are observed with precision and affection. A truly charming, offbeat alternative for Halloween or anytime. (Picture book. 4-8)