I Spy Spooky Night: A Retrospective
6/6/2023: I Spy Spooky Night represents a colossal evolution in the way Wick creates his search and find books. Instead of building a collection of disconnected scenes that each tie into different aspects of the book’s theme, Spooky Night creates a narrative, taking the reader on a tour of a haunted house, and each scene represents another step in that journey. With this narrative framing, the scenes take on a distinctive evocative feel, each one naturally leading into the other and giving the haunted house a sense of place that did not exist in previous I Spy books.
Creaky Gate
This is an excellent scene that sets the tone of the book well. The color scheme is muted and melancholy, with lots of black and gray on the gate and the stones, but with splashes of color. The greens of the grass and the purple of the sky contrast nicely, but are cast in enough of a haze to maintain the spooky atmosphere.
The composition of this image is also notable. From a distance, the gate in the center here looks like an ordinary, symmetrical gate. Looking closer, however, you notice that there’s tons of tiny details that look similar from a distance but are quite distinct, like how there’s an owl on one side and a cat with a bell on the same place on the other side. The scene looks like an ordinary gate from a distance, but has all of the same intricate, asymmetrical detail as any other I Spy scene, it’s just hidden within the false symmetry. This scene makes a great first impression.
House on the Hill
After passing through the Creaky Gate, you arrive at the House on the Hill, the most iconic scene of the book. This is a fantastic scene that captures the feeling of Halloween perfectly, while establishing a number of new things for the I Spy series. For one, this follows a logical progression from the first one. After walking through the Creaky Gate, you arrive at the House on the Hill. This kind of narrative progression is totally new, and forms the backbone of the whole book, and the progression of these first two scenes is some of the smoothest in the book.
The composition is truly great, too. I really love the distant sunset colors used in the sky for each scene in and around the haunted house. It’s a nice way to add some more color to the muted blues, grays, and purples.The orange lights inside the house provide some nice contrast, and show little halloween vignettes as well. It’s a fun way to add some more props to find in a way that feels grounded.
I love the different way ordinary objects are hidden around the scene in a way that keeps them obscured from a distance. The scissors and ruler blended in with the boarded up windows, the blocks along the wall on the bottom, and the word KNOCK hidden in the branches of the tree on the left. Just like the previous scene, all the props to make a good scene are in place, but are well-hidden within the logic of the scene. This scene is truly excellent.
The Empty Hall
After entering the front door, you step into The Empty Hall. The atmosphere in this one is really distinct. The hallway is dusty and covered with cobwebs, looking quite abandoned, but the lights are on and the place is pretty well-decorated. It simultaneously feels abandoned and kind of homely, and I like that! It’s got a unique vibe for a haunted house.
I like how the color palette contrasts with the previous scene, focusing on red, brown, and orange, but with just enough of a haze of dust and cobwebs over them so they don’t feel warm. I also like the continuity with the shadow of the cat in the doorway, just like the shadow of the cat in the window in the previous scene. This is a quite well-made transitional scene, the kind of thing that only makes sense within this new narrative format.
A Blazing Fire
Stepping through the hallway, you arrive at A Blazing Fire. This one is not my favorite. I find that it’s pretty monochrome, but it’s well-made for what it is. The techniques of false symmetry used in Creaky Gate are used quite well again here, hiding lots of different objects within the border of the fireplace. I also find that it’s just a little bit too flat. There’s less depth than any of the previous scenes, it feels more like a facade. It’s certainly not a bad scene by any means, I just think it’s not quite as interesting.
The Library
After following the directions on the mirror, you arrive in The Library. This is the darkest scene in the book, by color palette alone, and I love the darker tone it conveys. The focus on green and red with a total lack of the book’s signature purple makes this scene stand out. Despite how muted the palette is, it still has enough variety to keep your eye moving and feel interesting, unlike the previous scene.
This also feels to me like the most haunted scene in the whole book. There’s less of the traditional halloween elements, there’s no cats or bones, it feels like a totally normal home study that’s been just… abandoned. It’s strangely eerie and understated for the rest of the book’s more fun halloween vibes. This is a great scene!
A Secret Cupboard
After pulling on the secret string, you open up A Secret Cupboard. As a contrast to the previous scene, this one feels like the most traditional I Spy scene in the whole book. Instead of a huge, detailed set that shows a grounded place, it’s a relatively flat scene with a collection of stuff. It’s mostly old toys, with illustrations and keys strewn about on the edges. It’s a fun change of pace from the previous scenes, and even manages to feel a little more vibrant, with its more diverse palette of weathered, dusty colors.
I find it interesting how a traditional I Spy scene with toys ends up feeling really different in the context of a book with a narrative focus. Despite how similar it is to scenes like Cubbies from the first I Spy, the feeling is totally different, since it’s showing a highly specific place. This is the kind of feeling that only the new narrative structure can create.
The riddle of this one is mostly pretty standard, but I love the rebus clue at the end. Wick likes to use rebuses as subgames, and this one is quite fun, and serves as the direction to the next scene.
Discovery in the Graveyard
After going 2 the graveyard 4 the key, you make a Discovery in the Graveyard. I love the atmosphere in this scene. The thick haze over the ground makes it feel even more mysterious, while the orange of sunset clouds and green of the grass provide a nice, vibrant contrast. I like how much depth the scene has, with the gravestones going way back into the frame, making the whole graveyard feel pretty expansive from this perspective. My main criticism is that most of the objects in the riddle are pretty alike, either engraved on the headstones, or silhouetted in the branches. The fog and moss create a lot of negative space, where the objects within them stand out a lot.
I really do like the humorous engravings on the headstones. It’s part of the fun Halloween energy, a little morbid, but silly and enjoyable. I was never particularly into Halloween as a child, but this book has helped me to appreciate the holiday more.
Inventor's Workshop
After using the key… somewhere, you uncover the Inventor’s Workshop. That transition isn’t as smooth as the previous ones, but the scene more than makes up for it. This stands out as one of the most iconic scenes in the book, from its impressive use of effects. The metallic grays of the machine and the workbench are contrasted incredibly by the mystic glow of the lights and the blast of ghostly blue fog. I can only imagine how many takes it took to get a satisfying burst of steam, while still leaving the cork visible. It adds an incredible sense of dynamism and motion to this scene that’s totally unique.
There’s so many other little details in this scene that I like too. The potion ingredients in fun labeled tins, the ghost recipe that includes a tire for some reason, and Skelly in the top left corner pouring in the final ingredient with a flask on a chain, all adds so much more to this scene. I love how there’s plenty of stuff hidden in the pipes at the top, which helps avoid the negative space issue I talked about with the previous scene. I also think the ghost machine itself is fun. While it looks pretty simple at first glance, you can see that the central machine has salt shaker lids and little beads as its controls, still managing to incorporate mundane objects into one of the most elaborate, fantastical scenes yet.
The rhyme for this one is also superb. Rhyming “a short sad poem” with “a little palindrome” is absolutely inspired, and the kind of wordplay I aspire to do in my own rhymes. It’s one of those offbeat rhymes that really needs to be planned out carefully to work, and it’s a ton of fun here. I love this scene!
Ghost of the Night
After the ghost machine works its magic, the Ghost of the Night emerges from the chimney! After how impressive and technical the previous scene was… this one is a classic floating objects scene, which manages to feel completely different within the more grounded framing! This is a really fun scene that works well as the climax of the book. The huge white mass of the ghost stands out a ton, since the rest of the book doesn’t really use white as much. I like how the chimney is visible below, the only thing in the whole scene that isn’t white or blue. It helps link this scene to the rest of the haunted house.
The choice of props in the ghost is kind of odd. There’s a lot of Halloween-ish stuff in there, with a bone, a bat, a frog, and a snake, but there’s also some odd stuff, like a spool of thread, a butterfly, and a… stegosaurus? It would feel unfocused, but the color scheme and silhouette of the ghost helps bring it all together. This is a fun scene!
The Fountain
After… uh… well, you end up at The Fountain. The transition here is a little less obvious at first, but when you look a little closer, it’s incredibly cool. The rhyme ends with “a brass telescope,” (which rhymes with rope, which is fun), and if you follow where the telescope on the left side is pointing, you see a swirling silhouette in the upper right corner, the ghost floating off into the night. This is such a cool detail, and the change in the structure of the scene transition signals how the transitions will change for the last few scenes.
The scene itself is very well composed. The fountain itself makes a great centerpiece, with lots of findable objects hidden in and around it. I also like how the color of the sky has finally changed to a pure deep blue, showing the passage of time as the night has gone on. The palette of this scene is really nice in general, the flowers and critters breaking up the otherwise blue, green, and gray scene. There’s a ton of depth too, with lots of objects in the background, in the topiary, and in the foreground, in and around the fountain. I also love the full moon, visible for the first time in this book, and acting as the transition to the next scene.
Full Moon at Dawn
The nature of the night changes, showing the Full Moon at Dawn. I love this transition so much. The moon is on the mirrored, opposite side of the page, and is a little more distant, but the silhouettes of the trees are in the same place. Instead of animals around a garden, there are plushies around a bed. Instead of dark blue and green and gray, the scene is bathed in white and a lighter blue. The otherworldly colors and spooky atmosphere are gone, yet the layout of the scene is quite similar, the transition in this one being more metaphorical than literal, transitioning from the haunted house to the real world.
This riddle has the most stuff to find in the whole book, too, with six rabbits, two dominoes, and nine birds included in the rhyme. It’s a whole lot of stuff to find, which helps you linger on this peaceful, cozy moment at the end. Compared to every single other scene before it, this one is just so cozy, with a focus on fabrics and other softer things, marking an end to the Spooky Night.
Good Morning
Good Morning! With this scene, the nature of the haunted house is made clear. The giant gorgeous dollhouse and discarded halloween decorations indicate that it was a dream, images of halloween dancing in the mind of the young occupant of this room as they fell asleep. With this, the fantastical world of the haunted house is brought full circle, made into something more tangible and relatable. I love how the dollhouse is clearly recognizable as the haunted house, but is clearly well-loved and well-maintained, it’s a real joy.
The whole scene feels really cozy, the golden light of the sunrise seen through the window, making the whole house seem to glow, in comparison to its previous condition. The uneven lighting is quite different, and helps to ground the scene in a tangible reality. It really does not look like a set built on a stage, it’s an incredibly relatable, bedroom scheme, with toys strewn about on the floor. Despite how grounded the scene is, it’s still a totally fun and playable I Spy scene. There’s some really fun details in the rhyme, too, such as asking for “ONCE upon a TIME”, with the words spelled out in blocks on top of eachother. The whole scene is just so cute. This is a fantastic ending to the book, bringing everything together.
Conclusion
I Spy Spooky Night is an excellent first attempt at giving I Spy books a narrative structure. The scenes flow together quite smoothly, and really establish the house as a grounded, tangible place, before showing its true nature as a grand dollhouse in a child’s bedroom and bringing it all full circle. The narrative structure adds so much atmosphere and tone to the book, making it feel like a much more coherent experience. Wick will continue to develop books with a narrative structure, and continue to evolve and refine the techniques used to link scenes together and make the worlds within these books feel consistent.