I love this book!  I have loved this book for over 20 years!  I look forward to reading it aloud every year, and I am using this opportunity with the 25^th Anniversary Edition available to spread the word to anyone who does not have this book or is unfamiliar with this book needs to get this book.  It makes a fabulous picture book read aloud for older students, with opportunities to discuss inference and prejudice.  Van Allsburg’s illustrative style does an amazing job of setting the mood and tone of the story.  It makes a great read aloud around Halloween, without being blatantly a Halloween story.  The twist at the end is implied without being explicitly spelled out, allowing readers to put the pieces together for themselves.  And it leaves you cheering for the main character.