Sunday, October 17, 2010

Not So Creepy Halloween Stories

"Mitzi liked creepy things.
Creepy bedroom slippers
Creepy breakfast cereal.
Creepy relatives.
So, naturally, when she
decided to get a pet,
she wanted the creepiest
pet possible."

Despite Mitzi being a witch and loving all things creepy, the book Hoodwinked, by Arthur Howard, is a wonderfully non-creepy book for those of us just getting into spooky things. After several attempts at finding the perfect creepy pet at the Cackle & Company pet shop, Mitzi discovers her perfect pet is an adorable orange cat she names Hoodwink.

"And strange as it seems, she didn't mind one bit
that he was adorable. After all, she said,
looks aren't everything."

I have read this book to Emmy every day for weeks, but the best reader of this creepy book is Emmy herself. So listen in as she reads aloud Hoodwinked.

(By the way, anytime Emmy starts to read a book to me, she will say..."I'm going to read it differently." I find this so cute. She usually has the character's names and the plot down pat, but will add her own lines and voices which makes listening to her read a complete joy.)


If you have a beginner reader at your house, you may be familiar with Arthur Howard's illustrations as he draws the pictures for the Mr. Putty and Tabby books written by Cynthia Rylant.

If you are looking for another Halloween book that is a bit scary, but not too much, try There Was An Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. Emmy LOVES this one especially when the the pumpkin head says "BOO, BOO!" The assorted items of clothing found in the story have a calling to scare something, but when the old lady bravely says, "I'm not afraid of you." the unhappy look on the pumpkin head gives the the old lady an idea. I won't give away the ending, but here is a hint in the form of a song:

Scarecrow
(tune: I'm a Little Teapot)

I'm a little scarecrow
Stuffed with hay,
Standing watch in my field all day.
When I see a crow
I like to shout:
"Hey, Mr. Crow, you'd better get out!"


Oh, and one more sweet book that is a bit of a creepy Halloween story and a
great book for bedtime - Who Wants a Dragon? by James Mayhew. An adorable pink dragon is lost in the night looking for his home and his adventures take him around the kingdom where he ends up frightening most everyone until his Mommy flies by... "She'll cuddle him, and kiss him, and help him sleep tight."



Emmy and I really enjoy books by James Mayhew. You may remember our post on Katie in London. Mr. Mayhew writes a wonderful blog where I just found out his struggle in creating another series of books based on his son during the boy's younger years. The first book is titled
Boy and is set to be republished next summer. It looks so
endearing! If you are interested in finding out about the struggle to get this series going and published check out this post on Mayhew's blog.







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Happy Halloween!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4 comments:

  1. I loved hearing her read a story to me. Please stop by and link this post to Read.Explore.Learn.

    JDaniel4's Mom
    Read.Explore.Learn.

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  2. When I was in London I got Mia Katie in London! I love your blog! I always want to go out and buy all the books!

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  3. Thank you for listening to Emmy read. She is such a voracious reader and is always ready to lead a story time!

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  4. What a perfect book to bring back from London. Emmy wants to go on an adventure with Katie and I'm sure she would want Mia to come along as well!

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