Tag: halloween

Children's Literature (Ages Birth - 7), Picture Books/Easy Books (Ages 3 and up) (Fiction), Reviews

Review: Bats at the Library by Brian Lies

BentenShisho

Lies, Brian. (2008). Bats at the Library. Houghton Mifflin Co.

While the night might be beautiful and dark, it’s same old same old for the neighborhood bats. They are begging for something different. Lucky for them, they realize that someone at the library has left the window open. It’s bat night at the library!

They fly and follow the warm light through the open window, to their delight. Some read books about food, other enjoy the soft lighting. Some make use of the water fountain and others lose themself in storytime, letting their imaginations soar into other worlds.

Before long, they realize they’ve lost track of time, enjoying the library and all it has to offer. The sun is coming up. It is time to fly! But they hope, another night, the librarian will leave the window open again so that they can once again visit…

…and fill their, and their children’s minds with all sorts of adventures, through the night.

Beautiful and love book, Brian Lies! My favorite is the bat with the glasses, and the pictures of what their imaginations see when they are listening to the stories they are exploring. The illustrations are beautiful. Most of the rhymes are strong. It’s a very sweet, wholesome book. I hope the bats can visit the library again (they do have other adventures as this is part of a series!), I just don’t want them in mine. 😉 Books and guano don’t mix.

Recommended Ages: 3-6

Activity and Coloring Sheets, Children's Literature (Ages Birth - 7), Picture Books/Easy Books (Ages 3 and up) (Fiction), Reviews

Review: Bruce and the Legend of Soggy Hollow by Ryan T. Higgins

BentenShisho

Higgins, Ryan T. (2023). Bruce and the Legend of Soggy Hollow. Disney Hyperion.

*Downloadable activity sheets at the end of this post!

Bruce is not a holiday guy. He REALLY didn’t like Halloween. But his friends and family still tried to get him excited about it. They decided to host a play. “The Legend of Soggy Hollow”

Little did Bruce know that he was going to be an active participant.

It all starts with a soldier who lost his way in the woods long, long ago. Worse than that, he lost his horse! Now he is said to haunt the woods, asking those that pass by for their horse! They call him “The Horseless Horseman of Soggy Hollow.”

Many years later a teacher came to the Hollow named Ichabod Bruce. While he was known for loving his students and giving out treats, singing and dancing. Bruce had other ideas on how the part should be played. *snort*

Ichabod rode his horse through the frightful woods, seeing spooky things around every corner, to ask for the hand of Miss Van Moofle, though he was notably distraught from the fear. However, she accepted him, and they went on a celebratory ride, where Miss Van Moofle wanted to share a kissy kissy, but little did they know the Horseless Horseman was right behind them. Again, Bruce had notes about this scene, so much so that he bolted off the stage with his trusty steed and straight into the forest…

…where the spirit of the Horseless Horseman wandered, on this quiet Halloween night…except for the bear crashing through the forest.

…and the “galumphing” of a giant moose, looking for a Halloween kiss from a certain running bear. Bruce even ran past that Horseless Horseman and all he could say was “OUT OF THE WAY!” Unfortunately, that spirit got caught in between Bruce and the moose (hehe) until at one point, Bruce and the spirit hopped on that little wooden horse and rock, rock, rocked all the way to a windmill. But they couldn’t lose that moose! Bruce took off runnin!

Until he reached the stage. “The spirit of Halloween was in the air. And so was Bruce.” BWUAHAHAHAHA! The attendees got their candy. Camilla got her kiss (kinda) and the Horseless Horseman…

…well, he got a little Halloween treat as well. Happy Halloween, Buddy.

MAN DO I LOVE RYAN T. HIGGINS! From his Penelope Rex books to Bruce, they always have me laughing. I laughed out loud with this one, in the library, MULTIPLE times. It’s fantastic and the illustrations are always top notch. This one, in particular, is well themed for Halloween with dark pictures with bright characters.

HIGHLY Recommend.

Recommended Ages: 3-7

Activity Sheets:

Bruce_soggy-Hollow-ActivitySheets-5566_FINAL
Children's Literature (Ages Birth - 7), Picture Books/Easy Books (Ages 3 and up) (Fiction), Reviews

Review: Scary, Scary Halloween by Eve Bunting and Jan Brett

BentenShisho

Bunting, Eve. (1986). Scary, Scary, Halloween. HarperCollins Publishers.

Starting today, I am going to be including the name of the illustrator in the title, especially of picture books. Their work is critical, especially in early literacy. Now that being said, let’s get to reviewing!

While I love Jan Brett’s illustrations (her book “The Mitten” is one of my all-time favorites) can I just say, the eighties were a very different time. Cuz this book is a little scary for a preschooler.

It’s all about a mother cat telling her kittens about the scary monsters that are coming out on Halloween and how they might get them, but they might not. They use phrases like “sunken mouth and sunken eye,” “nightmares walk the streets of fear,” “a skeleton with bones so white,” “a devil prances, fiery red, with horns asprouting from his head.”

And I love spooky stuff, but if I had read this to my kid when they were three they would have freaked out.

And then the cats become the monsters. Kind of. So, I mean not spooky to an adult, but…yeah. Not my favorite. And as I like to say, oh well. You can’t like ’em all. Though, I still love Jan Brett’s illustrations.

Stay spooky my friends.

Recommended Ages (if you do choose to read this to your kiddo): 5-7

Children's Literature (Ages Birth - 7), Picture Books/Easy Books (Ages 3 and up) (Non-Fiction), Reviews

Review: The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons

BentenShisho

Gibbons, Gail. (1999). The Pumpkin Book. Holiday House.

Gail Gibbons The Pumpkin Book, teaches you all about pumpkins, from different varieties (though there are many more now, than there were in 1999 when this book was written), to how a seed works, to how you plant it the best way possible…

…to even the different parts of the flower and how pollen helps to create a pumpkin! It talks about how the first two leaves emerge and how the secondary leaves look different, and exactly what they need to grow. It talks about the tradition of pumpkins in people’s lives, at fairs and includes…

…a somewhat simplified version of the first Thanksgiving, in the context of Native Americans teaching Pilgrims about pumpkins, and includes some cultural aspects of them doing so. It also has, again, simplified origins of Halloween as well, that I take some issue with.

However, it also includes instructions on how to carve a pumpkin, or decorate one if you so choose, as well as how to dry/bake the seeds and some background on the ways people use/used pumpkins and why.

From a horticultural/gardening standpoint, this book is phenomenal for teaching kids about how a pumpkin grows! I was really impressed, though it might be a little too complex for younger preschool kiddos. Again, not wholly impressed with the cultural implications, though there were some points that they touched on (like women in some tries being the tenders of pumpkin fields, and they talk about “The Three Sisters,” and cultural significance for Pueblo tribes, which were good.

Recommended Ages: 5-8

*I could not find a publisher released activity sheet for this book but, someday, I might just make my own. Check back for updates.

Children's Literature (Ages Birth - 7), Picture Books/Easy Books (Ages 3 and up) (Fiction), Reviews

Review: Little Boo by Stephen Wunderli

BentenShisho

Wunderli, Stephen. (2014). Little Boo. Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

This little pumpkin seed wants to scare SO bad. But no matter what it does it can’t scare anyone!

It gets colder. The snowflakes appear and despite the seed trying to spook them by saying “boo” they outnumber the seed and ask why they should be afraid.

The gentle wind comes and tells the seed to be patient. It’s not time for you to be scary yet. Just rest.

And so the seed sleeps until spring, when it wakes and reaches toward the wam sunlight becoming a sprout. Is it time to scare yet?

The new sprout sure did try but no one took it seriously. They just smiled.

Soon the sprout turned into a vine and green fruit began to grow. One grew larger than the others and started turning orange. A pumpkin!

The pumpkin said “Boo!” again, but the person picking it was not scared as they took the pumpkin to the house, with the wind not far behind.

Finally, it became a Jack-o-lantern and oh was it scary! Everyone was delighted! Especially the wind! “Do it again!” it said.

And the wind blew eerily, shaking the leaves from the trees. “What wonderful scaring!” It said. “Thank you,” it called out, mighty and orange now where once it was just a tiny seed. “Boo! Boo! BOO!

Lil Boo is so cute and a great reminder that we may get impatient to grow up, or have skills, or be something we aren’t yet, but it will happen at the right time, in the right way. We just need to keep growing, and maybe listen a little more to that wind. 😉

Recommended Ages: 3-6