Halloween – Peaceful Reader

It's the perfect weather for reading

I’m a summer kind of girl but I love much about spring and fall as well. I always hope for a bit of Indian Summer to hold me over so I’m a bit sad that we’ve jumped head first into winter-like weather. First, it rained a lot (way too much for fall) and the fall leaves are suffering (and the farmers). It’s been very windy this weekend. Our rivers and lakes have flooded across bike paths and over roads which pushes people from their homes.

The only silver lining is staying inside and reading. I finished The Maze Runner, which has been on my to-read list for years. I really enjoyed it and am very curious about the next one in the series. James Dashner created a unique and weird dystopian world and I’m invested to know more about the maze and how it all came into being. I want to watch the movie and I brought the second book home from school. It’s waiting, taunting me, but I have other books to read first.

One of my best readers at school showed me the book Hideout by Watt Key and told me he wanted me to read it when he finished. Last week he gave it to me and I promised to read it within the month. I actually skipped reading my book club book, Pachinko, to read Hideout. In my life, one thing leads to another all the time and now I want to read all of Watt Key’s books. This one tells the story of Sam and how he finds a young boy, Davey while motoring his small boat around the bayou. Davey is living in a rundown shack and waiting for his dad and brother to join him. Sam agrees to help him fix up the shack and bring him supplies because it all seems like a great adventure until things become real. Sam discovers more than he needs to know about Davey’s family and who they really are and once in it is difficult to get back out. I’ll be happy to hand this book back to my student and help him find more of Key’s books.

I started reading Jewell Parker Rhodes new book Ghost Boy, which tells the story of young Jerome as he navigates the world after being shot by a police officer in Chicago. It’s a sad beautifully-told tale and I want students at my school to read it even though it is about a difficult topic. While it is sad the real message is; it’s up to us to make real change. In my recent Social Justice class we discussed the importance of elementary students being aware of the real world around them. This book not only deals with death and grief but poverty, bullying, and the historical context of young black men as targets starting with Emmett Till. I’ve read all of Rhodes’ other titles starting with Ninth Ward (Hurricane Katrina) and Towers Falling (911). She does an amazing job of bringing these tough topics to elementary students through her well-written books.

I just started Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson, which I received as a gift when I went to hear Woodson speak at the Englert Theatre. She was amazing to listen to and I would love to have lunch with her. I’m only two chapters in so I’ll give you the back blurb for this one:

Six kids. One school year. A room to talk…

Once there were six of us.

We circled around each other, and listened.

Or maybe what matters most is that we were heard.

I hope you are giving yourself plenty of time to read this fall. I have to head outside to breathe the crisp air and get my bones moving often as well. Our new dog Ruby loves to romp in the leaves and run freely in the green space across the street. It is a joy to watch her play outside which helps to balance how I feel about her chewing habits.

End-of-the-month dead end

(history.com)

Happy Halloween everyone. I stayed up past my bedtime last Tuesday to write a 3-month review of books from August-October. I spent a fair amount of time cross referencing my GoodReads account. It had the makings of a fantastic post. I got on today to finish it and send it out to all of you but it disappeared into the vast unknown. I must not have saved it properly or the internet just royally messed with me. I’ve looked all through my history. Nothing, nada. I can find every single other page I was on around that time but no sign of that post. *&&%$#@! Time wasted. I will have to go back and recreate the entire thing.

I will do it but my point in working on it last Tuesday was that I wanted it done before the end of the month. November I dive into November Novel writing. Never tried it and for some reason feel compelled to do it now. I admit to being scared even terrified but that’s okay. I have grit.

In other family news this is the first Halloween we are not out there trick or treating with a child. Our 13-year-old is trick or treating with a friend but really only to take her 2-yr-old sister around the neighborhood. The other two are long out of the tradition and I noticed on older daughter’s tumblr page that she’s off drinking holiday brew with friends. It is spooky how they grow up and live their own lives independent of you. We had fun reminiscing about costumes and other Halloween celebrations together. If I had a redo I would have taken one picture for every Halloween and kept a book so I could remember all the costumes and the places we were. Highlights: Tristan as a fish he created and painted himself, a cowboy, Mr Monopoly, Yoda, and Groovy Girl as a small lion our first year in Chicago, Ladybug Girl, The Mad Hatter, a bumblebee, Cruella DeVille, and Kaylee as a pink flamingo and an Indian princess.

Howling for Halloween

Reading Halloween books this week to a few classes makes me want to share some Halloween book love.

Halloween books give me special credence to use all sorts of fun/scary voices for read-alouds! Students are thrilled as I stomp around our reading circle.

1. The Perfect Pumpkin Pie by Denys Cazet: I love pie and this book makes a great read-aloud about a dead man’s love for pie. This book has a marvelously fun refrain about pumpkin pie with delightful illustrations.

2. That Terrible Halloween Night by James Stevenson: Louie and Mary Ann think they have Grandpa tricked when he doesn’t know that October 31st is Halloween but it’s really Grandpa tricking them. Kids love the speech bubbles in the illustrations and the ending had everyone thinking!!

3. The Three Bears’ Halloween by Kathy Duvall: Mama, Papa and Baby Bear dress up for Halloween and trick-or-treat around the forest. When they find a house door open they venture in…A funny take on Goldilocks, kids love it when they figure out the story is the reverse of the original.

4. Where’s My Mummy by Carolyn Crimi: Little Baby Mummy wants to play one more round of Hide and Shriek and runs away from Big Mama Mummy. When she doesn’t come looking for him, he has to search for her in some unusual places. John Manders illustrations show us a perfectly creepy graveyard with a wildly un-frightning but fun cast of characters. This also has some easy repitition for young ones to repeat with you.

5. Boris and Bella also by Carolyn Crimi: A romantic tale of a friendship that forms between Bella Lagrossi and Boris Kleanitoff-one messy and one tidy vampire, both wishing to host a Halloween Bash. Everyone heads to Harry Beastie’s party instead as he’s neither messy nor too clean. Cris Grimly illustrates this one for Crimi and they are perfectly spooky! Crimi is the only author on this list to have their own website…such a shame!! I think it should be a requirement for publishing houses to get a website up and running for an author with a few books under their belt, at least! [soap box moment] I discovered this interesting interview with Crimi at Make It Better, a North Shore publication.

What Halloween books have you spooked?

I’ll be back this weekend with a photo celebration of our own holiday fun including an up-date on all my pumpkin seed roasting trials. My groovy girl is Ladybug Girl and again I shout from the mountain top how hap, hap, happy I am that she chose a book character herself!! Go Young Happy Reader Girl!!!