It’s allergy-safe, no cost, promotes reading = it’s the perfect Halloween treat!
Every year at Halloween, a kid (maybe your own) asks for a scary book and you think, how scary is scary for this kid? Do they like zombies, or are carrots that eat bunnies more their speed? Trick or Reaters will help you find just the right book – and give you free bonuses like audio clips of first pages to entice readers.
Trickorreaters.com is loaded with book recommendations from authors like R. L. Stine to Grace Lin to Melanie Watt. Use the Scare-O-Meter to decide how scary you want your stories to be, or select by age (from two years old to fourteen) or by genre. Want a scary story about witches for a nine-year-old? Trick or Reaters will give you book suggestions like “The Gravedigger’s Son” by Patrick Moody, treat you with an audio clip, a book excerpt, or a book trailer, and help you find the book at your local library or bookstore.
Print fun flyers from the website to tuck into goody bags or to hand out on Halloween night, and use Trick or Reaters all year long to find books that are the exact right amount of scary!
The Cybils 2014 Finalists for Fiction Picture Books
I was honored to be a first round judge for the 2014 Cybils Awards in the fiction picture book category. I was one of seven people who volunteered to read more than 229 picture books and to argue for the books we thought were outstanding. The reading part was easy. Debating the merits of books I love with other well-read, highly intelligent, articulate bloggers – way tougher than I thought. Some books that I adored didn’t click with other readers, and some of their favorites I didn’t like. The process again reminded me of how personal our connection with books is, and why we need such a wide variety in our libraries.
In the end, we were able to choose seven fiction picture books to move on to Round 2. Good luck to those judges on choosing just one of these worthy contenders! See the list of all the Cybils finalists here.
Here’s one of the books that made me want to hug the author, the illustrator, the editor, and everyone involved in making it: Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me written by Daniel Beaty and illustrated by Bryan Collier.
Every morning, a dad knock-knock’s on his son’s bedroom door to tell him “I love you”. One morning the dad doesn’t knock, and the boy writes a letter asking why his father isn’t around any more. The letter the dad writes back about the hopes he has for his son’s bright, beautiful future is full of hope and inspiration. Any child dealing with the absence of a parent, due to incarceration or other circumstances, will find strength in this beautifully illustrated book. This is one of those books that may make a powerful difference in a child’s life.
Some of your kids need to hear this book because it will act as a mirror of their experience. Other kids need this book as a window into the experience of others. All kids need to know that a bright future lives within them no matter their circumstances.
Because this story can touch on strong, possibly painful emotions, it might be one you simply read aloud to your class and skip a follow-up lesson. Go ahead and let your kids see you get choked up, which you undoubtedly will, because powerful books do that to readers. Consider encouraging students to write letters – to someone they miss, to their future selves, even to you. If you let kids know they can write letters to you that will be absolutely private, and that you’ll write back to them, you may open incredible doors of communication with kids who need it.
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Ten Rules of Being a Superhero
I’ll bet you a sack of Halloween candy that most of us have dreamed of being a superhero: saving the day, maybe flying, definitely wearing a cool cape and a mask. Snazzy accessories aside, if you want to be a superhero, you need this book: Ten Rules of Being a Superhero by Deb Pilutti.
Captain Magma and Lava Boy show us the rules with bright, captivating art and with short sentences to support younger readers. Big ideas like courage, integrity, and loyalty are introduced in kid-friendly ways, and there are good giggles, too. For example, Rule Number 2: “Saving the day is messy.” As Lava Boy cleans up the playroom ( with Captain Magma holding the dustpan), he adds, “Moms don’t understand Rule Number 2.”
There’s a fantastic, free discussion and activity guide (written by Superteacher Debbie Gonzales) that you can print from debpilutti.com. You’ll find fun games and a story sequencing activity that nails that Key Ideas & Details reading standard. I think Ten Rules of Being a Superhero makes a wonderful discussion and writing prompt. What are the qualities of a superhero? Who can be one? Since it’s October and many kids are thinking about costumes anyway, what about making superhero gear? Towels and blankets from the thrift store (thoroughly washed) can be made into capes. Donated t-shirts or paper grocery bags can be decorated with paints and markers.
One of my favorite elementary schools kicked off the year with this theme “Our School: Where Superheroes Are Made”. I’m sharing some photos that might inspire some super ideas. Read Ten Rules of Being a Superhero by Deb Pilutti to your students and watch how it pulls in your students like metal to Magneto.
Moo!
It’s the beginning of a new school year and we want all our students to start off feeling successful. If you have kids that are beginning or struggling readers, here is a book that almost everyone will be able to read confidently: Moo! written by David LaRochelle and illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka.
This is no boring “baby book”. The humor of this one works for a wide range of kids, especially if you model reading it aloud with great expression. I read this one for an all-ages Stories in the Park event this summer and even the grown-ups were chuckling. Even though the book consists almost entirely of one word, the punctuation, the text formatting, and the pictures determine how the word is read. So not only is it a bull’s-eye for the Core Standard of Fluency, it works beautifully into a lesson on punctuation and Print Concepts.
Read Moo! aloud to your students and, once the giggles die down, talk about how you knew how to read the same word differently. For example, look at this page from the book: 
There are moos in italics, in bold font, in all capitals and these differences, along with the punctuation, help determine how to read this page. Share the book again, asking different students to use the text and picture clues to help them read the page with feeling. Now you’ve got a lead-in to a great writing exercise. Brainstorm two lists: a list of punctuation and text styles that were used to change the meaning of “moo” so many times, and a list of animals that make a sound. Kids can write and draw about an animal that goes off on an adventure (using punctuation and formatting to show meaning) and they’ll only have to worry about spelling one word. Fun!
Guess Who Is Out of the Den?
