Fragile Earth Stuffed Animals

HOW SPIDER SAVED HALLOWEEN by Robert Kraus

When we were searching the shelves for Halloween books, Helen asked if I had How Spider Saved Halloween (Scholastic Book Services TW2923) because it was one of her favorites. She also remembered it having a fairly good witch in it (and I'm sure Ladybug would agree!) Spider is worried about finding the right costume because nothing changes him drastically enough to hide who is behind the costume. This book was published in 1973 - look at these costumes. No Halloween or Scream masks, no blood or guts. I miss 1973. Not the clothes, just the ... innocence. Spider goes to his friend Ladybug's house to see if she can help him. Ladybug and fly show him their costumes - see isn't that a great witch? Spider is still trying to think of a good costume for himself when they hear a smashing sound and laughter coming from outside. Bullies have destroyed Ladybug's jack-o-lantern. Maybe it wasn't such an innocent time after all. Ladybug is terribly upset because what is Halloween without a jack-o-lantern? And that's when Spider gets the idea for the perfect costume. He has his friends color him orange and he cuts out a green stem and voila! He's the perfect jack-o-lantern.  The three friends go out trick-or-treating and are having a wonderful time until they hear the bullies coming down the street with cans of shaving cream. (Even though they are bullies, they still are pretty tame.) But Spider knows how to get back at them. Hiding behind a bush until they are right near him, he then jumps out and scares them. And that is how Spider saved Halloween. Robert Kraus wrote several other Spider/Ladybug/Fly books, some of which are still available through Amazon, etc. In 1965, Kraus started his own publishing company, Windmill Books which published some of his NY artist friends' books, including, among others, The Mother Goose by Charles Adams , (which I need to find immediately!) and several by William Steig, including Sylvester and the Magic Pebble , another huge favorite here at Fragile Earth Stuffed Animals. They also were the first to produce board books and bathtub books for very young kids.

THE GHOSTS DINNER by Jacques Duquennoy

I love it when ghosts get together for dinner. Want to know why? They become the color of whatever they eat/drink. Green for spinach juice? What other kind of juices did they have? Blueberry? Strawberry? It just boggles the mind! I always turn orange when I eat Pumpkin soup. I love that the ones that had seconds are a darker orange. How funny is it that they look like the lettuce and the cheese? Who can tell me what type of cheese they're eating:D There are times when I could really use this magic dessert recipe. Good friends are the ones that help you clean up at the end of a dinner party. This surprises me a little (although maybe not that much knowing my penchants for chocolate), but I love the color brown they turn after drinking hot chocolate. And I usually don't like brown at all. But this is such a warm, rich color. I'm thinking the ghost in the middle is overdoing his chocolate to milk ratio, just a bit! Oh, and the bowls they are using for their milk? They would make AWESOME ice cream dishes. I'm just saying! Posted by Mary Beth

GEORGIE AND THE NOISY GHOST by Robert Bright

I remember reading the Georgie books all through my childhood and was so excited to find some when I started teaching kindergarten. I loved sharing books that meant a lot to me with a new batch of kids every year.

The first Georgie book was published in 1944 and 11 more followed. They all involved Mr & Mrs. Whittaker, the owners of the house that Georgie haunts, Miss Oliver the owl, Herman the cat, and of course Georgie, the friendly ghost.

In Georgie and the Noisy Ghost, written in 1971, Georgie & crew move out to a house on the beach that the Whittakers have rented for the summer. Everyone knows that houses should only have one ghost haunting them. So what happens when a family with a ghost moves into a house that is already occupied by another spirit?

First they travel by car, then by boat. What? Don't you arrive at your new house in the middle of the night? But wait, who's that! You'll just have to read it yourself:)

One thing to keep in mind with these books - they do tend to be a bit wordy so if you've got avid listeners, you're good. Otherwise, you might want to paraphrase or plan to read it in stages.

DORRIE AND THE BLUE WITCH by Patricia Coombs

When doing a week about witches, we would be remiss not to include the Dorrie books by Patricia Coombs. There were 20 books in the Dorrie series, written in the early 1960's through the early 1990's. We've been reading these books for 40 many, many years and they hold up just as well today. I know this, because I just re-read one of them today and really enjoyed it.

As you can see, this is not a brand new book. My sister found it for me on ebay because almost all of the Dorrie books are out of print. This one used to be in a school library and why it's still not there, I don't know. But their loss is my gain:D

This is Dorrie. There's just something about her that appeals to me. It might be the witches shoes (which I love!), the mismatched socks,

her messy room. My room has never been that messy! Honest. I think Gink the cat might have a lot to do with the appeal. Who doesn't have a black (and white) cat sitting around helping you?

Also, Dorrie and her mother live in an amazing house with lots of rooms

Paneled hallway? Check! Rooms upon rooms? Check!

Awesome stairs leading up to the tower? Oh, yeah!

In this book, there's a bad witch (you know she's bad because she's blue) who tries to kidnap Dorrie. Her name is Mildred (don't all bad witches have names like Mildred) and her evil plans are thwarted by Dorrie's resourcefulness.

I'll let you read the book to see how Dorrie outsmarts Mildred, and she's not the only youngster using her brains against older adversaries. Some other great witch books include  The Wednesday Witch by Ruth Chew, The Little Leftover Witch by Florence Laughlin (oh, I love this book!), not to mention The Witches by Roald Dahl and The Witch Next Door series by Norman Bridwell (of Clifford the Big Red Dog fame.)

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

This week, we're celebrating MONSTERS! And when I think monsters, my mind immediately goes to Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Which is appropriate since the movie is coming out this Friday.

When trying to decide which pages to include in this post, I couldn't leave anything out. Each illustration is so iconic, so well known.

According to Wikipedia, Sendak based the monsters on his aunts and uncles.

I wonder if his uncle had a stripey shirt like that? Actually, if I squint and look real fast, I can see a pair of those awful plaid pants guys used to wear in the 70's in the pattern of his legs.

But, I digress. In the story, a little boy named Max is having a bad night. In fact, he behaves abominably,

chasing the poor dog, and threatening to eat his mother, so he's sent to his room, where a forest grows until it takes over his room. There's a boat waiting for him, which he uses to sail away until he reaches the land where the wild things are. The wild things try to scare Max but he calms them down with a magic trick and they make him king of all the wild things.

Ahhh - the wild rumpus. What child doesn't need a wild rumpus every now and then?

What adult couldn't use the release of a wild rumpus every now and then?

I sure could. I'm tempted to let loose right now ... but I'm at work and I have my dignity to think of.

Well, maybe just a little rumpus. Hold on - I'll be right back! .................

Okay, continuing on. After letting off some steam, Max realizes that being king isn't everything it's cracked up to be and wants to go back to "where someone loves him best of all."

So he gets back into his boat and sails away, even though the wild things really want him to stay.

He makes his way back to his room, to where someone has laid out his dinner.

I love the way Maurice Sendak wrote this book. There are only nine sentences in the whole story, and yet they stay with you. How beautiful is sailing "through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost over a year"?

When I was teaching kindergarten, I used the book to teach map skills. What better use of imagination than to have the kids draw a map between Max's room and the land where the wild things are? I had one student keep coming up for more paper and when I asked him why he needed so many sheets, he told me that if you're traveling over a year, you need to go REALLY FAR! Can't argue with that logic!

HALLOWEEN CATS!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love the decorations, the pumpkins, the stories. There are some great children's books out there about Halloween. How Spider Saved Halloween, The Dorrie Books, and this book - Scary, Scary Halloween by Eve Bunting.

I peer outside, there's something there

That makes me shiver, spikes my hair.

It must be Halloween.

A ghost goes triling, drifting by

With sunken mouth and sunken eye

Ghosts rise on Halloween.

Little ones, stay safe inside!

It's best to stay at home and hide

on hallowed Halloween.

A vampire and a werewolf prowl

One growls a growl, one howls a howl

In praise of Halloween.

Two witches, grinning witchy grins

Have pointy hats and pointy chins

They're here for Halloween

Who is hiding under the porch, afraid of the ghosts and witches? Who's spooky eyes are those? We have to wait for the monsters to go away and then ...

It's quiet now, the monster's gone,

The streets are ours until the dawn.

We're out, we prowlers of the night

Who snap and snarl and claw and bite.

 

Now they're not so scary! Especially the little black one ...

as a matter of fact, he reminds me of one of my favorite felines

Eve Bunting's words and Jan Brett's illustrations are a wonderful combination. I would love for Jan Brett to make me this costume - look at all the details!

BATTY ABOUT BOOKS

Geoffrey here, the Fragile Earth Orphanage Librarian, highlighting one of the newest books to hit our library shelves. Our book of the week is Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies. And we're proud to have one of the young bats from the story staying with us at the orphanage, so I'll let him tell you all about the book.

Do you ever wonder what happens at the beach, after the sun goes down? When people have left for the day?

Sun slips down and all is still,

and soon we can't tell sky from hill.

Now from barn and cave and rafter,

bats pour out with shrieks of laughter.

The rising moon can grow no fatter

as sky lights up with gleeful chatter;

Quick, call out! Tell all you can reach -

the moon is just perfect for bats at the beach!

And that's when other species hit the waves!

Some are braver than others - some don't make it in past their ankles!

We have bonfires ...

and roast bugmallows ....

What do you do at the beach?

Just a quick note - some other great bat themed books are Stellaluna by Jannell Cannon, Bats on Parade  and others by Kathi Appelt, and the ever entertaining Magic School Bus series by Joanna Cole .