It may not be that this was a bad book...it was that I poorly selected it to read to my 3 year old. Dead man in the woods who gets his feet and shoes ripped off...not so uplifting before bed :) ( )

This book is about a bagpipe player, Willie, who runs into a dead man in the forest. Willies clothes are worn, including his shoes, and he decides to take the boots off of the dead man. While doing so, the man's feet come off along with the boots. After taking the feet, and boots, he decides to play a joke on a farmer. He places the feet, thawed, in a place where the farmer will think that the cow ate the feet. The farmer and his wife bury the feet and afterwards Willie plays his bagpipes atop the grave. The farmer and his wife hear this and think it is a ghost. The story ends when a ghost appears to Willie.

I found this book, interesting. A part of me wants to say “weird,” however I don’t find that appropriate. I just think it is odd, taking one’s boots along with their feet. It doesn’t seem appropriate for children. While there were many things I was not too interested in for this book, I did like the watercolors. There were also good literary techniques used in the story. There are sounds that are described, which allows the reader to make a connection with the sound to what is being described.
One activity that could be done with using this book would be to have students experience watercolors. The students could be allowed to paint using watercolors. Another activity would be to have students use their own imagination and create their own scary story. Within reason, each student could create their story and then present it to the class.