A Countdown to Halloween - Six days of holiday books: Day Six

Happy almost Halloween everyone! The Through the Looking Glass Halloween Countdown is almost over, and it is ending with a phenomenal book that readers of all ages will enjoy. Jon J. Muth has written several books that share Zen stories and Zen philosophies with his readers. This newest book continues this theme.

Zen Ghosts

Jon J. Muth

Picture Book

Ages 6 and up

Scholastic, 2010, 978-0-439-63430-4

   Karl, Addy, and Michael are getting their Halloween costumes ready. Their friend Stillwater the panda bear comes over and he explains that he is going to be a ghost for Halloween. Karl is going to be a monster, and Michael is going to be either an owl or a pirate. He doesn’t know which he prefers. Stillwater suggests that Michael might like to be an “Owl-Pirate.” After all, on Halloween anything is possible. Stillwater then tells his young friends that this Halloween is special because there is going to be a full moon. He knows someone who can tell the children a ghost story.

   So, after treat-or-treating on Halloween night, the children meet Stillwater at the stone wall and he takes them to his house where they meet a panda bear who looks exactly like Stillwater. He tells them a story about a girl whose soul separated and went into two different directions. One soul stayed with her family, and one ran away with the boy she loved. Which soul was the real girl?

   In this beautiful and thought-provoking picture book, Jon Muth brings readers an old story that has timeless appeal. Yes, it is a ghost story of sorts, but it also a story about duality, which is something all people of all ages encounter. I am my mother’s child, but I am also someone’s best friend. Which self is the real me?

   With gorgeous paintings throughout and a story that will resonate with readers of all ages, this picture book is an enduring treasure. 

Poetry Friday - A review of This is to say

This book of poetry delighted me. It is a story and a collection of poems rolled into one. It is an inspiration too. Imagine what life might be like if we all took the time to write a sorry poem to the people we upset.

This is just to say: Poems of apology and forgiveness

Joyce Sidman

Pamela Zagarenski

Poetry

For ages 8 to 12

Houghton Mifflin, 2007, 0-618-61680-2

Anthony K is a six grader in Mrs. Merz’s class at Florence Scribner School. Inspired by a poem written by William Carlos Williams, Anthony and his classmates decided to write some “sorry” poems to people that they have wronged in some way. They then asked the recipients of the poems to write poems in response to the apologies. The children have complied the two sets of poems into this book and they hope that we - their readers - will enjoy the poems that they wrote and that they received.

   The collection opens with a poem from Thomas. The poem is for Mrs. Garcia, who works in the office. Thomas confesses that he stole “the jelly doughnuts / that were in / the teacher’s lounge.”

   Reuben and Kyle apologize to each other for hitting each other too hard with the dodge ball. Reuben knows that he got carried away, and Kyle even goes so far as to say that he will probably “do it again.”

   Carmen apologizes for making fun of Mrs. Merz’s dress. She admits that she “felt like a traitor,” and she wishes she could “rewind” her hurtful words and say something kind instead.

   Each of the poems in this book beautifully captures the personalities of the people who wrote them. As we read them, we can almost see Mrs. Merz, her students, their families and their friends. We can appreciate the sentiments of the writers, and understand their transgressions and their hurts, their apologies and their forgiveness. There is humor and pathos in the words, and the various poetical forms used are beautifully complimented by Pamela Zagarenski’s memorable multimedia art.

A Countdown to Halloween - Six days of holiday books: Day Five

So far in this countdown we have had a board book and several picture books, so today I have chosen to give you a chapter book.

The Pumpkin Mystery

Carol Wallace

Illustrated by Steve Bjorkman

Fiction

Ages 5 to 7

Holiday House, 2010, 978-0-8234-2219-7

   Last year Aden and Leah’s family were able to host a wonderful pumpkin party for all of the children’s friends. The young guests were able to choose Halloween pumpkins from Aden and Leah’s family pumpkin patch. Leah and Aden are eager to plant pumpkins again this year so that they can have another pumpkin party in the fall.

   Carefully, under the watchful eyes of Mocha and Scruffy, the family dog and cat, Aden, Leah and their parents plant their pumpkin seeds. Carefully they tend the little vines. To their great distress, the vines don’t do well at all. How can they have a Halloween pumpkin party if they don’t have any pumpkins? Why have the plants done so poorly this year when they did so well last year?

   With an engaging story and amusing characters, this is an appealing chapter book for young readers. Children will enjoy the way the cat and dog in this story are the ones who save the day. 

A Countdown to Halloween - Six days of holiday books: Day Four

Today's Halloween book is a board book that younger readers are sure to enjoy.

Five Little Pumpkins

Illustrated by Ben Mantle

Board Book

Ages 2 to 4

Tiger Tales, 2010, 978-1589258563

Night is falling and five little pumpkins are sitting on a gate. Tonight is not just any night, it is Halloween night, so as the moon rises strange things start to happen. Witches swoop over the pumpkins, big black spiders drop down on them, and the pumpkins “run and run” as ghosts and other spooky things fill the night air. Then the pumpkins decide to “have some fun” and the evening becomes even more interesting.

   This amusing board book will perfectly suit little children who enjoy Halloween.

A Countdown to Halloween - Six days of holiday books: Day Three

For today's review I have a picture book that has been out of print for twenty five years. I am delighted that it is back so that today's young readers can enjoy it.

Hubknuckles

Emily Herman

Illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray

Picture Book

Ages 5 to 7

Random House, 2010, 978-0-517-55646-7

   Every year on Halloween Hubknuckles some to visit Lee and her siblings. He stays outside of course, looking in, and the children stay in and look out “enjoying the small tickles of fear” from the safety of their warm house. Then one year, Lee tells her siblings that Hubknuckles isn’t real, and there is no reason why she cannot go outside on Halloween night.

   Of course, as the light fades, Lee begins to feel less confident. She has trouble eating her usual amount of dinner, and during the Halloween party, Lee is smiling on the outside, but she is nervous under her smiles.

   Then the time comes, and Lee slips out of the door. She is sure that Hubknuckles is her father wearing a white sheet…but then she might be wrong.

   Back in print for the first time in twenty-five years, this deliciously spooky story will leave readers wondering and guessing. Could it be that Hubknuckles is real after all, or was someone out outside playing the part? With wonderfully atmospheric pencil drawings and a beautifully paced text, this picture book is a must read for the days leading up to Halloween.

Halloween Recipes from Barefoot Books

Barefoot Books has a free download of some free recipes that I thought you might enjoy. The recipes are adaptations come from their cookbook Kids Kitchen: 40 fun and healthy recipes to make and share. The recipes include the following:

Slimey Green Gloop: A Halloweenish version of guacamole

Dracula's Gelatin: Jello with a few surprises in it.

Eyeballs: I am not going to give anything away here. Suffice it to say that this is a truly gruesome looking treat.

Ghoul's Smoothie: A delicious drink.

Icy hand snatchers: Popsicles that will give you the shivers!

Meringue Ghosts: Simple little desserts that will melt on your tongue. Ghosty!

Download the recipes here. Enjoy!

A Countdown to Halloween - Six days of holiday books: Day Two

For today's Halloween title I have a picture book that leaves the reader wondering if all is what it seems! It has a fabulous ending too.

On a windy Night

Nancy Raines Day

Illustrated by George Bates

Picture Book

For ages 4 to 7

Abrams, 2010, 978-0810939004

It is a windy Halloween night, and a little boy who is dressed up as a skeleton has a big haul of candy in his bag. Now it is time for him to go home, so he off he goes on a winding road under the light of the full moon. After a time, clouds hide the moon, and the dark woods around the little boy start to look more and more creepy. As he moves quickly through the trees, the boy hears a voice that says “Cracklety-clack, bones in a sack. They could be yours – if you look back.” The terrified boy rans on, through a field of dancing skeletons. Will this terrible ordeal ever end?

   With a bone chilling text and thoroughly spooky illustrations that contain all kinds of hidden creepy images, this is the perfect book to read out loud on the days leading up to Halloween.

A Countdown to Halloween - Six days of holiday books: Day One

There are only six more days before it is Halloween, and since I have some Halloweenish books on hand that I think you will enjoy, I have decided to have a six-day count down bookish event.
   I will begin with a book that is not strictly a Halloween title, but it is pertinent nevertheless. It is a book about pumpkins, and since pumpkins are often associated with Halloween, I thought it would be a great way to start my countdown.

The Pumpkin Book

Gail Gibbons

Nonfiction picture book

Ages 4 to 6

Holiday House, 1999, 0-8234-1636-4

   For many of us pumpkins are large orange squashes that we carve into jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. They are turned into pumpkin pies, and we use them to decorate our homes during the harvest season. Most of us don’t realize that these fruit (yes they are a fruit) come in all shapes and sizes. Some varieties are huge, while others are very small indeed.

   You can grow your own pumpkin by planting a pumpkin seed in a prepared patch of ground in the spring. By summer, you should have a large pumpkin vine growing in your garden, and in the fall, it will be time to harvest the pumpkins you have grown. Depending on what kind of pumpkin you have grown, you can cook them, turn them into jack-o-lanterns, or - if you grow a really big pumpkin - you can enter it into a big pumpkin contest.

   This informative nonfiction picture book will be an instant hit with children who look forward to harvesting or buying pumpkins in the fall. It is not only packed with information about pumpkins, but it also gives young readers detailed instructions on how to plant a pumpkin, how to carve one, and how to dry pumpkin seeds. 

Poetry Friday - A review of Poetry Skywriting

For this Poetry Friday, I have a book that presents readers with the story of man and his efforts to fly. On these pages you will see hot air balloons, the first flying machines (some of which were very odd indeed), and powerful planes that look like something one might see in a superhero comic book.

Poetry Skywriting: Poems to Fly

J. Patrick Lewis

Illustrated by Laszlo Kubinyi

Poetry

Ages 6 to 10

The Creative Company, 2010, 978-1-56846-203-5

   For centuries, man has dreamed of flying. There is the story of Icarus who “rose on wings of wax” only to plunge to earth again when the heat of the sun melted his wings. For a while, man had a grand time floating across the sky in hot air balloons. The Montgolfier brothers made a famous twenty-five minute flight above Paris that was witnessed by none other than Benjamin Franklin himself, who was “without his kite!”

  Though the hot air balloons were quite successful, there were still those who wanted to create a flying machine that had wings. Some men created machines with wings that flapped, and they barely left the ground. Then two brothers developed a flying machine that did fly, and on a cold December day, “aviation’s door” was opened.

   For this very special collection of poems, J. Patrick Lewis has written thirteen very different poems about man’s passion for and fascination with flight. With humor and beautiful word imagery, the poet takes us on a journey from Icarus’ unfortunate flight, to the creation of the Nighthawk and the space shuttle. To accompany the poems, Laszlo Kubinyi has created beautiful illustrations that are rich with detail and that have a vintage postcard feel.

   Endnotes at the back of the book provide readers with further information about the thirteen topics covered in the poems. 

Author Eva Ibbotson has died - An obituary

Eva Ibbotson was born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner in Vienna, Austria, in 1925. Her father, Berthold Wiesner, was a physiologist and her mother, Anna Gmeyner, a writer. Her parents separated in 1928 and after remaining in Vienna in a church orphanage she joined her father, a Jew who had left Austria to work in Scotland just before Hitler and the Nazi party came into power.

She was educated at Dartington Hall School; attended Bedford College, London, graduating in 1945; Cambridge University from 1946–47; and the University of Durham, from which she graduated with a diploma in education in 1965.

Ibbotson had intended to be a physiologist, but was put off by the amount of animal testing that she would have to do. Instead, she married and raised a family, returning to school to become a teacher in the 1960s.

            Ibbotson began writing with the television drama Linda Came Today, in 1965. Ten years later, in 1975, she published her first novel, The Great Ghost Rescue.

Ibbotson has written numerous books including The Secret of Platform 13, The Star of Kazan, Journey to the River Sea, Which Witch?, Island of the Aunts, and Dial-a-Ghost. She won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for Journey to the River Sea, and has been a runner up for many of major awards for British children's literature. The books are imaginative and humorous, and most of them feature magical creatures and places, despite the fact that she disliked thinking about the supernatural, and created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things. Some of the books, particularly Journey to the River Sea, also reflect Ibbotson's love of nature. Ibbotson wrote this book in honor of her husband (who had died just before she wrote it), a former naturalist. The book had been in her head for years before she actually wrote it. Ibbotson said she dislikes "financial greed and a lust for power" and often creates antagonists in her books who have these characteristics.

Her love of Austria is evident in works such as The Star of Kazan, A Song For Summer and Magic Flutes / The Reluctant Heiress. These books, set primarily in the Austrian countryside, display the author's love for nature and all things natural.

             Ibbotson's non-children's books have been classified both as Young Adult titles and as romances. In an interview, she referred to them as books for adults. Several of these books have been published in other languages with different titles.

            Eva Ibbotson died in her home in Newcastle, England on October 20^th, 2010. Her last book, The Ogre Of Oglefort, was shortlisted for the 2010 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize.