Fun Halloween Read Alouds October 29, 2009

I found a unique halloween read aloud that I read to grades 2 – 5. (I’m sure it could be read to younger kids, but I had other titles I read to them.) Everyone loved The Perfect Pumpkin Pie by Denys Cazet, plus I never got tired of reading it! It’s about Mr. Wilkerson who loooooves pie. After he dies he haunts his house looking for the perfect pumpkin pie. “Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkin Pie! I have to have some before I die!” he chants every time he visits. Jack and his grandma are determined to bake a perfect pie. They finally do, after several attempts, and Ghost Wilkerson is quiet…for awhile. The pictures are funky and the text is repetitive. I think the thing that makes it appealing for the upper elementary is the grandmother. While Jack is afraid of the ghost, his grandmother comes out with some great replies, such as “Yeah, yeah. We’ve heard it all before. Sit down and have some pie.” The kids really cracked up at her!

I re-discovered Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman, illustrations by S. D. Schindler. It was published in 1995, so nothing new here, but it’s a great read aloud. The kids love the repetition and the characters. They also like my vampire voice! I can’t come up with a good voice for a the other characters, but a vampire accent is so easy!

Another fun Halloween read aloud: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. Any others? (For those of you who are allowed to read Halloween books…)

Non-Fiction Gems! October 27, 2009

Pebble Plus series from Capstone Press

Last year, a teacher told me about a nonfiction series called Pebble Plus, and so I ordered about 10 titles from Follett. The books are beyond fabulous. Amazing photos, very simple text, and a nice, big (but not too big) sized book for younger readers. They fly off the shelves.

Even better is the fact that Capstone Press has tons of titles at very accessible reading levels for elementary readers. We are finding that even 5th graders are needing text that is at their reading level, and much of what we have is simply too difficult for them. Although Follett has some of their titles, the selection is not enough to satisfy what I need. My plan is to order the bulk of my nonfiction that is filling in my gaps this year from Capstone Press and do the cataloging myself.

I also asked for some samples of titles from Capstone Press (there is an Asia representative) and just received about 5 the other day for free. Can’t beat that!

Can you even imagine how psyched the kids are going to be when they see this title?!