Once upon a time, a little old lady who was not afraid of anything walked home through the moonlit woods. She rounded a bend on the path and found two big shoes that go CLOMP, CLOMP by themselves.

"Get out of my way, you two big shoes! I'm not afraid of you," she said. She kept on walking, and the shoes clomp-clomped behind her. Next she met up with a pair of pants, then a shirt, and pretty soon she had an entire outfit following her. Each time, she ordered, "Get out of my way... I'm not afraid of you" and walked on just a wee bit faster.

Then she got to the "very huge, very orange, very scary pumpkin head." Walking a little bit faster was out of the question -- running wasn't. She ran all the way home,

"[b]ut behind her she could hear Two shoes go CLOMP, CLOMP, One pair of pants go WIGGLE, WIGGLE, One shirt go SHAKE, SHAKE, Two gloves go CLAP, CLAP, One hat go NOD, NOD, And one scary pumpkin head go BOO, BOO!" When she bravely proclaimed that she was still not frightened, all the stuff that had followed her home didn't know what to do with itself. But she had an idea. She found a place for it in her garden, where it could scare all the birds away.

Part of the magic in this story lies in it's repetition. My kids love saying and acting out shake, shake, nod, nod, etc. (and I may be a very proud mom, but nobody says "wiggle, wiggle" cuter than my toddler). Another part of the magic is the illustrations. They're serious, but not scary. At one point, the little old lady pushes the shirt out of her way. In the next illustration, it's following her with it's sleeves crossed in the classic "humph!" pose so familiar to parents of strong-willed children.


Who's afraid of the big floating pumpkinhead?   March 31, 2004
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

At last! The rare Halloween children's classic! Every Halloween seems to bring a rash of holiday centered picture books. Some are okay and most are simply terrible. This Halloween, I ask that you consider a story where the word "Halloween" never even enters the text. In "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything" we read a story that has all the markings of a classic folktale.

As a little old lady makes her way home through a dark and scary forest, she comes across a pair of old shoes that walk all by themselves. Assuring the shoes that she is not afraid of them, she next comes across a floating pair of pants. A shirt follows the pants, gloves and hat follow the shirt, and finally a huge scary pumpkin head follows them all. In the end the brave little old lady finds a use for the floating objects and everyone ends happily.

The book conjures up images of other pop culture touchstones where clothing floats all of its own accord. The well-known "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" for example. And like "Bedknobs", the clothes in this story are definitely malevolent. Stalking the nice old lady through the woods, each article has its own specific sounds. The boots go "CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP", the shirt goes, "SHAKE SHAKE", and the pants (for reasons best left to the author) go, "WIGGLE WIGGLE". As the number of objects increase, the number of sounds increase as well. A good oral reading of this story will give each sound a scary touch to drill the point home. The illustrations accompanying the story are rather nice. They are equally adept at displaying the old lady's grey skied country home as they are the dark bleak autumnal night where she meets the frightening accoutrements. It's a great story with a rousing plot. Anyone familiar with fall in the countryside (and anyone who just loves Halloween in general) will enjoy this great old-fashioned book.


Librarian and Teacher!   June 4, 2001
 12 out of 12 found this review helpful

I use this book with my Kindergarten and First grade students. I have a T-shaped wooden frame that I use with my lesson. I pass out articles of clothing...a pair of boots, a pair of gloves, a shirt, a pair of pants, a top hat and a plastic Jack-0-lantern. I encourage participation, chanting and acting out of the story from the students for each part as we read the book aloud. Finally, I place the items on the wooden frame to make a Scarecrow as the grand finale!!!!! They predict the outcome and enjoy the excitement of discovery as we read the book. It is both scary and fun! This is one book I look forward to reading each year!!!!! My students LOVE it!


ANY child would love this book!   November 14, 2001
 11 out of 12 found this review helpful

My 18 month old loves this story! My "slow" student in class loves this story----read it to the kids with props---someone in the shirt, someone wearing the hat, and someone lifting up a jack-o-lantern! Read it to them just TWICE and see how much they remember and enjoy! A little old lady goes for a walk in the woods and finds the objects of a scarecrow attempting scare her---she persuades the objects to scare the crows out of her cornfield instead! Read it on Halloween day! A must for classroom and at home! Any time of the year!


When I was a child....   September 19, 2003
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

I'm 18 years old now, but when I was a toddler, I loved this book. I still have my original copy of the book. When I was in girl scouts at the age of 6, we had a campout where each set of mothers and daughters would do a skit. My mom and I did ours on this book. We brought all the props, the glove, the hat, the shoes, everything. It was so much fun. I think that every toddler should have a copy of this book. It is a very fun story and is illustrated well.