Room on the Broom

When I pulled this book out of the Halloween bin, my Kinders and Firsties went crazy!

Them: "I love that story!" "I watch that movie all the time!"
Me: "Oh, well if you've already read it, let's choose another one."
Them: "NO! No! Please read it!"

And so we did, and we enjoyed every minute. We talked about how cool it is that Emily has beautiful ginger hair, just like the witch, that Isaac has a cat but it doesn't look like the witch's cat, and Nina's family just got a new broom, too, but it doesn't have seats or a nest or a pool. And by the way, did you know that Julia's bow is almost the same color as the witch's, and Kaden's brother had a wart on his foot once?

Life with the littles :)

Be sure to add this one to your Halloween repertoire.



Julia Donaldson website

Axel Scheffler website

SchoolKidzTV animated version

Miss Smith and the Haunted Library

If you love the Miss Smith series, be sure to pick up this title - perfect for the days leading up to Halloween.

Miss Smith takes her class to the community library, just a block away from school, and, naturally, they take her Incredible Storybook with them.

When they arrive at the library, they are greeted by the librarian, Ms. Creeper. When she hears that they are on the hunt for spooky stories, she borrows the Incredible Storybook and begins to read bits from each of her favorites.

Soon, as any Miss Smith fan knows, the characters begin to come out of the storybook and fill the room. The children are simultaneously enthralled and worried, but Ms. Creeper doesn't seem to notice Frankenstein, Count Dracula, the Hound of the Baskervilles, or the frightened students clinging to their teacher.

When Ms. Creeper suddenly stops reading aloud and begins passing out cider and cookies, they realize she is not only aware, but has just started a party in the library.

Everyone is having a great time, and the characters don't seem so scary anymore as they tell jokes, play fetch with the Hound, and go on horsey rides with the Headless Horseman.

Until...the senior citizens' book club arrives at the library, and we all know what Miss Smith has to do

Pick up this Miss Smith sequel and enjoy seeing all your favorite spooky characters brought to life in Michael Garland's inimitable style, and, as a bonus Ms. Creeper has included a list of each of the spooky creatures and the book that features them.



Other Halloween books:
Halloween Rhythm and Rhyme (8 books in one post!)

National Geographic Kids: Halloween

Halloween Night: Twenty-One Spooktacular Poems

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pies

This is the most adorable Halloween book I've ever read!

Author Mark Kimball Moulton introduces Miss Fiona through the eyes of a neighborhood child. The child describes her dilapidated home and property and then Miss Fiona's appearance, from her stringy hair, pointed hat, pale green skin, wart, and long black dress, to her age - Fiona is rumored to be 403, but "...she never looked much older than 200 years to me!"

Miss Fiona has a large pumpkin patch and she grows hundreds of pumpkins in order to make homemade pumpkin pie for the community every Halloween.

She spends Halloween day prepping the pumpkins and making the pies while the trick-or-treaters peer into her windows, anxiously awaiting the finished product.

When trick-or-treating is done, the children gather outside Miss Fiona's house and she chooses one lucky child to be her helper. Everyone waits outside while Miss Fiona and her helper prepare the pies for serving.

When the church bell tolls at midnight, Miss Fiona calls them in and feeds them her delicious pie and while they eat, she reads spooky stories to them, then sends them on their way with an extra slice of pie to share with their families.

Karen Hillard Good's illustrations take this book above and beyond the normal Halloween book. Her folk art style, with muted colors and rusted tintype look, keep it warm and friendly. Every page is a treasure trove of detail - spiraling stars, sunflowers, black cats, jack-o-lanterns, and pumpkins spilling out of every possible nook and cranny.

One of my favorite moments is when the child narrator observes, "...who cares how kooky someone looks, when there's goodness deep within." The other is when Miss Fiona finally reveals the secret to her scrumptious pumpkin pie.

Mark Kimball Moulton Blog

Karen Hillard Good website

Other Halloween books:
Halloween Rhythm and Rhyme (8 books in 1 post!)

National Geographic Kids: Halloween

Halloween Night: Twenty-One Spooktacular Poems

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Bone Soup

According to the book jacket, author Cambria Evans had an experience with eyeball stew in Peru that inspired her to write this story.

An innovation on Stone Soup, this Halloween version features Finnigan, a  skeleton known for his voracious appetite. Finnigan is always hungry, in fact, every where he goes, he brings along his eating stool, his eating spoon, and his big eating mouth.

On Halloween, Finnigan approaches a town hoping for a Halloween feast. But his reputation has preceded him and the towns"people" have hidden all their food. The witch hides her jars of imported eyeballs, the beast locks up his bat wings, the zombies put away their frog legs, and no one will share with Finnigan the Eater.

So, in true Stone Soup form, Finnegan lights a fire under a humongous cauldron in the middle of the town square and drops in an old, dry, crusty bone. Soon, the town creatures join him in the square to see what he is doing, and one by one, they add their contributions to create a "delicious" Halloween feast.

Evans' illustrations are just spooky enough to give this story Halloween flavor and while Finnigan doesn't look anything like a skeleton to me, I do love the little black-eyed zombies.

Cambria Evans' website is supposedly coming soon, though it appears that it has been in the making for almost a decade. In the meantime, here's a link to an interview with her.

Other Halloween books:
Halloween Rhythm and Rhyme (8 books in 1 post)

National Geographic Kids: Halloween

Halloween Night: Twenty-One Spooktacular Poems

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin

I haven't blogged much since school started. I've got a new assignment and between moving into a new classroom and pulling together materials for math intervention and ELA support for our Spanish Immersion students, I've been...busy.

But when I pulled out my Halloween books and saw this, I knew I had to share. Whenever I read this to children, I always ask if they have read Goodnight, Moon or Runaway Bunny. Most of the time, the answer is yes and we talk about what they like about those stories before I tell them that this book is written by the same author. That always gets them ready to hear something wonderful. The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin follows a tiny, green pumpkin as he grows into a big, orange pumpkin in a field he shares with a one-eyed scarecrow whose ferociousness he wishes to emulate.

As the field mice scamper around him in the big field, the little pumpkin watches the scarecrow chase away the blackbirds and he vows that someday he will scare the field mice away. His wish comes true when a trio of children choose him to be their jack-o-lantern, carve him up, set him out on the porch, light a candle inside him, and...the mice run away.

Margaret Wise Brown turns a typical tale about a pumpkin becoming a jack-o-lantern into an absorbing adventure filled with both rich and childlike language - zigzag, gallop, dreadful, ferocious, inky black, droopy.

Caldecot medalist Richard Egielski uses warm colors and shadows to evoke the mood of Brown's writing. The light on the children's faces as they gaze at their jack-o-lantern took me back to the years of carving pumpkins in our home.

Smithsonian Magazine article about Margaret Wise Brown

Richard Egielski website

Other Halloween books:
Halloween Rhythm and Rhyme (8 books  in 1 post)

National Geographic Kids: Halloween

Halloween Night: Twenty-One Spooktacular Poems

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

 

Over in the Hollow

This adaptation of the song "Over in the Meadow" is a fun Halloween romp/counting book.

Sing it or read it, either way, your child will love it. Dickinson uses well-known Halloween creatures such as werewolves, vampires, Frankenstein, and skeletons to take us biting, boogieing, stomping, and howling through the hollow in 13 (what other number suits a Halloween song?) verses.

Rebecca Dickinson obviously loves Halloween since this is her 5th Halloween-themed book for children. Be sure to check out her other work when you visit Amazon to purchase this one ;)

Stephan Britt illustrated this one and the pictures are adorable, a word we don't often associate with Halloween, but he makes every page of this book FUN! Be sure to spend time carefully examining each picture with your child, looking for Britt's humorous touches.

This book is a great addition to a family or classroom Halloween collection.

Other Halloween books you might enjoy:
Halloween Rhythm and Rhyme (8 books in 1 post)
National Geographic Kids: Halloween
Halloween Night: Twenty-One Spooktacular Poems
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Halloween Night: Twenty-One Spooktacular Poems

This collection of humorous Halloween poems by Charles Ghigna is illustrated in 5 colors by Adam McCauley, who also illustrated the Time Warp Trio series and the Wayside School series.

The poems will go right over the heads of young readers, the humor is more suited for the 8 and up crowd.  Ghigna writes about houses that give out the best treats, costume dilemmas, being afraid, werewolves, monsters, pumpkins, ghouls, gargoyles, haunted houses, witches, and trick-or-treating.

My favorite poem in the collection?  The Candy Check - a must-read for parents :)

Other Halloween books:
Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pies
Bone Soup
The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin
Over in the Holler

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

Every year during the week of Halloween, our 1st grade teachers play this song at Morning Stretch.  The kids love it!  The older kids are reluctant to enjoy it at the start, but by the end, everyone is singing along. 

The repetitive phrases beg for actions to go along with them, so let your kids come up with some that are fun and comfortable for them. 

The illustrations are darker in tone, but the central images are still colorful.  The floating clothing has a cartoony quality that keeps it from being too scary for younger readers.

I love the ending.  No spoilers here, you'll have to read it and see :)

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything is a great read for Halloween, a sleepover, or even a camping trip.

CLOMP, CLOMP
WIGGLE, WIGGLE
SHAKE, SHAKE
CLAP, CLAP
NOD, NOD
BOO, BOO!!!

Other Halloween books:
Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pies
Bone Soup
The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin
Over in the Holler


 

National Geographic Kids Halloween

In our classrooms, we are being "encouraged" to focus more and more on nonfiction to meet all of the standards put into place by those who wouldn't be caught dead doing our job. 

Bitterness aside, I've taught 4th grade for the past 7 years and each week when my class would go to the library, I would check their books in and out while the librarian helped them find their favorite genres, topics and authors.  In the process, I noticed that most of my students (and I had 60-90 each school year) were selecting nonfiction.

My second graders - not so much.  But one of my goals this year is to open their eyes to the magic of this genre, impress upon them the idea that knowledge is power, and help them develop a genuine affection for nonfiction.

This nonfiction Halloween book by National Geographic Kids is only 32 pages long, but it's jam-packed with interesting kid-friendly facts - did you know that pumpkins contain about 500 seeds and they can be orange, red, green, yellow, tan and white?  There are good ideas for giving trick-or-treaters a creepy welcome, tidbits about candy corn, how Halloween came to be, ideas for Halloween crafts, information about Day of the Dead, and in true nonfiction style, a (very small) glossary.  There are even some Halloween jokes.

  

It's the perfect reading level for 2nd & 3rd graders, which makes it a great starting for their love of nonfiction!  With a table of contents, glossary, photographs, captions, label, and headings, this book can also reinforce basic nonfiction text features.

Other Halloween books:
Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pies
Bone Soup
The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin
Over in the Holler

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

For older elementary readers, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a great Halloween read.  This retelling of Washington Irving's original tale is by Jane Mason and she has done a great job of abridging it for young readers. 

For those who are unfamiliar with the story, snooty school teacher Ichabod Crane moves to Tarry Town and becomes smitten with Katrina Van Tassel.  Unfortunately for Ichabod, town bully and roustabout ringleader Brom Bones also has his eye on Katrina and he decides he must find a way to get rid of Ichabod.

Tarry Town loves ghost stories and they are particularly enamoured of "The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow."  At party at the Van Tassel estate, townsfolk begin to share their favorite ghost stories and Brom regales the crowd with tales of his own encounters with the Headless Horseman, hoping to scare his competitor right out of Tarry Town.

Instead of being frightened, Ichabod prattles on about his own fearsome adventures and the party breaks up late into the night.

On his way home, Ichabod encounters none other than the Headless Horseman, who chases him through the hollow until he is able to knock Ichabod out by hitting him in the back of the head with his own jack-o-lantern head.  The reader is left to decide if Brom had a hand in this fortuitous turn of events.

When I taught 4th grade, I would show the Disney version of this story after reading the book in small groups.  I have the VHS version and it is cheesy - with Bing Crosby as the singing narrator - but it tempers some of the scariness of the tale.

Teachers, keep a close eye on Scholastic's reading clubs.  Often, they will offer a chapter book for $1, which is how I get most of my class and small group sets.

Other Halloween books:
Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pies
Bone Soup
The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin
Over in the Holler

Frankie Stein

Prolific children's author Lola M. Schaefer teams up with Kevan Atteberry to create this adorable tale about learning to accept who you are. 

 

Mr. & Mrs. Frank N. Stein are mortified when their firstborn, Frankie Stein, is...cute.  He doesn't look like them or act like them.  His parents try everything to make him scary - they paint his hair, cover his skin with green stickers, shower him with scariness, and try to inspire him by telling him tales of the horrific deeds of his very scary ancestors.  Frankie tries to move, talk, and act like his parents, but finally decides to be himself, which makes him the scariest Stein of all. 

 

Delightful digital illustrations and a story that reminds readers that it's always best to be true to yourself. If you like this book, and I'm sure you will, there is a sequel, Frankie Stein Goes to School.

Halloween Rhythm and Rhyme

It's October and that means we're reading Halloween books in our 2nd grade class.  I have never been a person who enjoys being scared.  I don't watch scary movies, I don't read scary books, and I have never been able to understand why on earth anyone would enjoy those things.  I am all about Cute Halloween.

I love rhyming text for young readers, so this entire Halloween post will be dedicated exclusively to rhyming stories. 

This first gem is an innovation on the song "Over in the Meadow" and could easily be sung as well as read.  As required by Carrie's Halloween Law, all the characters are - wait for it - cute.  Even the zombies aren't completely repellent.  The author introduces some great language to the wee ones: gnarled oak tree, fierce winds roar, shadows come alive, hovel made of sticks, mossy green heaven, deep green glen - all of these phrases evoke vivid images for readers and provide ample teaching moments.  Little Goblins Ten is a gently spooky counting book that toddlers will enjoy over and over again.

Kids like to dance and they like to act silly and this book gives them the chance to do both.  Enjoy the onomatopoeia and a graveyard full of playful movement words like rollicking, syncopating, swooped, swayed, rhythmic.  More chant than story, this rhyme about "that wild, wild night when the moon on the graveyard shone so bright" is a fun read for kids and anyone else who doesn't mind getting silly and doing the Rattlebone Rock.

Shake dem Halloween Bones (written by W. Nikola-Lisa and illustrated by Mike Reed) is another boisterous Halloween romp.  Like "Rattlebone," this really isn't a story, but a chant. Set at a Halloween party, the kids at the party are costumed as folk/fairy tale characters with a verse about each one, and a repeating chorus that kids will quickly begin to chant right along with you.  Mike Reed's illustrations are colorful and bright.  Readers will feel the movement of the party dancers through the pictures.  The MC at the party is my favorite character with his jack-o-lantern head (including a burning candle sitting inside his mouth), his skeleton bone jacket and bat bling.

Little Harry Potter fans will love this story. The rhyming text introduces Thornapple School, Miss Zorch, the headmistress, and a gaggle of little girl witches who fly to school in their rickety, magical bus. There's a haunted forest, a school choir, flying lessons, and dorms filled with cobwebs. The food however, is much, much worse than the food at Hogwarts. At Thornapple, apparently they serve eyeballs and tentacles. My second grade girls have been competing for this book for two weeks now, so if you have a young reader who is fascinated by all things HP, Which Way to Witch School is the perfect Halloween book for him/her!

Ten Timid Ghosts is Halloween counting book with a twist.  A tricky witch finds a house and wants the resident ghosts to move out.  So she scares them away with all kinds of foul creatures.  The final ghost notices the mummy that is chasing her out of the house is unraveling and realizes it is the witch!  The ghosts plot revenge and reclaim their home from the clever witch.

Children will enjoy discovering that the creatures that are scaring away the ghosts aren't real, but are costumes and props the witch has created in order to take over the house.

P.K. Hallinan has written a series of "special day" books and This is Halloween! focuses on the big event of Halloween - trick-or-treating!  Subtle reminders about manners and safety are woven into a rhyming text with colorful, full-page illustrations, also by Hallinan. The board book is the only version in print at this time.

I gave this brightly illustrated counting book to both my sweet nieces for Halloween.   The illustrations are cute, with a rhyming text that keeps children engaged. 10 Trick-or-Treaters is the perfect Halloween book for toddlers and bonus - it's a board book, so it's sturdy!

This cheerful book is my Halloween gift to my smarty nephew.  An innovation on "The Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clarke Moore, this fun book shows all manner of Halloween creatures preparing for the arrival of trick-or-treaters.  I like this for young ones because the monsters, mummies, witches, vampires, and other scary creatures don't look scary at all.  They are smiling and excited about the arrival of the children.  Be sure to check out The Night Before Halloween.

Other Halloween books:
Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pies
Bone Soup
The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin
Over in the Holler