I love the way the book is divided into chapters by the day the action is taking place. A lot happens in a very short time! I also love the medieval sound of the days' names: Midwinter's Eve (which I think is the day and night before the winter solstice, December 21), Midwinter Day (the winter solstice). Poor Will! Weird things start to happen to him right away on Midwinter's Eve, which also happens to be the eve of his 11th birthday. The radio crackles when he walks by, the rabbits are restless and uneasy, the rooks are crazed. Then there's the tramp: The Walker is abroad. Wow. If you were Will, at what point do you think you would have realized that something definitely wasn't right? I made a list of the ominous things that happened to Will in the first chapter. I counted 15. Make your own list and see how many you come up with. What is the scariest thing in the first chapter? How about Mr. Dawson saying, "This night will be bad, and tomorrow will be beyond imagining."
