The 13 Nights of Halloween

The 13 Nights of Halloween

Author:  Rebecca Dikinson

Publisher:  Scholastic, 1996

Grade Level:  Kindergarten and up

Genre:  Rhyming, lyrical, repitition

Summary:  This cute song like book follows the likings of the old folk song The Twelve Days of Christmas.  Instead of Christmas we follow a goblin that gives us a treat for Halloween each day concluding with a big old Halloween bash.  

Pre-Reading Activity:  I would read this book before Halloween.  I would also ask what is associated with Halloween.  We would then work as a class and make a list on the board of things associated with Halloween.

Post-Reading Activity:  See how many of things that were represented in the book were on a list.  You can also break the students into teams of two.  Each team has to write one thing that the goblin brought on a sentence strip.  Then the class has to work together to put the Halloween things into order.  

Reflection:  I like the "catchiness" of the tune and it is very easy to follow.  Most have already heard "The Twelve Days of Christmas," so it is really an easy read to follow along.  My son loves this story as it has all the spooks and surprises that Halloween has to offer.  

Author Rebecca Dickinson

Rebecca was born in boise, Idaho and was the middle child of 5.  Her family moved frequently and she grew up in the great northwest-settling towns all over Washington, California, Alaska, Montana, and then back again to Washington.  Her love for books and drawing began early on and some of her influences are Maurice Sendak, Roald Dahl, Jim Henson, and Dr. Seuss.(amazon.com)

Is Your Mama A Llama?

Is Your Mama A Llama?

Author: Deborah Guarino

Genre: Children’s Fiction

Grade Level: 4 years and up

Theme:  Rhyming

Year of Publication: 2004

Summary:  In this rhyming tale a llama makes his way through the forest searching for his “mama.”  He encounters many animals along the way and asks them, “is your mama a llama?”  At the end, he finds his mama whom is a llama and she tells him “YES,” and let’s him know how silly he is.

Themes:  Rhyming, family, friendship

About the Author:

Deborah Guarino, author of the best-selling children's classic, "Is Your Mama a Llama?" (Scholastic, Inc.) is now celebrating her book's 21st year in print. With more than a million copies sold, her playful book's popularity now spans two generations. It's available in five different editions, including a Spanish translation, and has been animated on DVD. It's also been selected by Oprah's Book Club for Kids, included in an episode of the prime-time series "Medium" and endorsed by actress Jennifer Garner, who recently became a literacy advocate on behalf of the Save the Children organization,in PEOPLE Magazine (amazon.com)

Pre-Reading Activity:  Have the children draw a picture of their mother or another special loved one.  Provide the children with crayons, markers, and/or paint.  After the children are done have a couple share their picture while asking them... “What is similar between you and your loved one?  What is different about you and your loved one?”

Post-Reading Activity:  Have the children pick out the rhyming words in the book and write them down on a sentence strip.  Then have the children come up to the board and put the rhyming words in order.  This will allow the children to look back into the book and find the exact words.  This will also help with sequencing.  For younger grades, you can have picture cues of the animals to help the children remember the names of the animals.  

Reflection:  When I was a Preschool Teacher I would read this story daily to the children.  I love rhyming books and this one is one of my favorites.  The children get a kick out of it when he is asking animals that are so different from him if they are his “mama.”  I loved to hear their little giggles as I would read the story.

Five Little Sharks Swimming in the Sea

Five Little Sharks Swimming in the Sea

Author: Steve Mezger

Illustrated By:  Laura Bryant

Genre: Fiction Picture Book, Comedy and Humor

Grade Level: PreK - Second Grade

Theme: Counting and Numbers, Early Learning, Animals

Summary: The popular "Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" rhyme is remained here with sharks misbehaving. The sharks bump into manatees, get stuck on the ocean floor, bang their tails, get lost playing hide-and-seek, and eat too much fish--all resulting in mother shark calling the doctor, time and time again. In the end, the sharks all return to health and swim happily in the sea.

Pre-Reading Activity: Sing the popular song, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, and ask the class if they think there can be any other stories that can be written using this idea. Talk about if monkeys really do jump on beds. Also ask, can monkey's really use telephones? Hold up the book Five Little Sharks Swimming in the Sea and ask predictions as to what trouble the sharks can get into in the sea.

Post-Reading Activity: Discuss if any of the children's predictions were illustrated in the story. Make a chart of what happened to all of the sharks or make a chart of all of the rhyming words. Pick seven children and have them come to the front of the room. Choose 5 to be sharks, one to be the mother, and one to be the doctor and act out the story in front of the class. You could even goes as far as bringing in an art project making doctor hats and shark fins.

Reflection: I really enjoy this book and really enjoyed sharing it with younger children. I have had children act it out and we would have to do it over and over so all children would get a turn. It is a real easy read and has great repetition so that even beginner readers can read this book. The one criticism that I have of this book is that although there is rhyming in it, the end sentence of the page does not rhyme so it is hard to get rhythm in the story when doing a read aloud. Below is an example...

Two little sharks playing hide-and-seek. 

One got lost and was missing for a week.

The mother called the doctor and the doctor said,

"No more sharks playing hide-and-seek!"

As you can see in the above excerpt from the book, the red words seek and week rhyme, while the blue words said and seek do not.
 

About the Author

Visit the Author Steve Metzer's Website at: http://www.stevemetzgerbooks.com

Steve Metzger is the bestselling author of more than sixty children's books, including "Detective Blue" (starred review from School Library Journal), "The Mixed-Up Alphabet," and "Skeleton Meets the Mummy." He is a former teacher of young children and currently enjoys reading his stories during school visits. Steve had a typical 1950s childhood growing up in Queens, NY. He currently lives in Manhattan (not far from Central Park) with his wife, teenage daughter, and Biscuit, a talkative cat.