"You could read me a story about a really, really, really, really, really cold place," he said, and clicked on his flashlight under the covers and stuck it in his mouth so that his cheeks glowed red as though he were on fire. "FIRE!" he tried to yell, but his voice was muffled because his mouth was full of flashlight.

    "That's actually a good idea," said Jakes, ignoring his spooky devil look. "And I know just the story. Shine the light over on the bookcase."

    She slid out of bed and was back in a second with a big blue book that make you cooler just by looking at the snowy hill and icy moon on the cover. "You hold the light and I've had it since before you were even born."

    "Read it. Read it. READ IT," screeched Dustin in a high whisper. "Who cares what happened before I was born."

    So she read. She read about a girl and her father looking for a Great Horned Owl on a freezing winter night. The trees were cold. The shadows were cold. Their feet and hands were cold.

    "Even their brains were cold," interrupted Dustin, shivering a little.

    Still no owl. But as they truned the pages and the characters went deeper and deeper into the frozen forest, Jakes and Dusin grew cooler, and before they had even got to the end, Jakes' voice had trailed off and both of them were asleep with the blanket pulled up to their chins.

-- Owl Moon, by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr. Philomel Books, 1987. $16.99 US hardcover, 32 pages.