We’ve noticed a definite overlap between word lovers and Halloween devotees. The person who cherishes odd and obscure vocabulary is often the sort whose step grows lighter when leaves crunch underfoot and October 31st draws nigh. Well, Kipling West’s delightful picture book A Rattle of Bones, a Halloween book of collective nouns is just the thing to appeal to younger members of this unrecognized demographic conjunction. In it, West illustrates her rhymed account of a brother and sister’s Halloween adventures with her own richly colored and evocative artwork, and, to describe the various objects and creatures the trick-or-treater’s encounter along the way, offers up a marvelous selection of collective nouns. Don’t remember what a collective noun is? It’s simply a specialized word for referring to groups of things - for example, “ a pride of lions,” “a pack of wolves,” or “a fleet of ships.” And it turns out there are a great many more of them than you would ever imagine. What West does here is present us with a set particularly suited to Halloween - “a grimace of masks,” “a leer of jack-o’-lanterns,” “a parliament of owls,” “an unkindness of ravens,” to list but a few. Some are of ancient origin, some are more recent humorous coinages, but to make the cut for the book, all had to have appeared in print in at least one earlier source.

A particularly entertaining way to enjoy this book, we have found, is to read it twice in succession. The first time through, simply read aloud the rhyming narrative, which so charmingly captures a child’s sense of Halloween as a thrilling expedition into the mysteries of the night. The second time, focus instead on the those bizarre collective nouns. At the end of the book, West invites readers to try coming up with some collective nouns of their own, and we think you’ll find that’s an invitation that a gathering of word lovers - or should we call them a compendium? or maybe an index? How about an anthology? - will eagerly accept.

Price:  $16.50