Slightly Spooky in the Library

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Halloween decorations. And stories. No, not everyone celebrates. Not everyone would be allowed to do this. In one or two cases there have been kids who went to another classroom while we did this. We made sure they had something "fun" to do with reading while we were spooking. ;]

Most years I do a lot of read alouds that day. Either in the library or in the classroom.

(From the $1 spot at Target ... and I promise I won't post about there again for a while ... haven't even been a shopper of that area for more than a couple weeks and I NEED TO STOP!)

If it's in the library we turn off all the lights (which doesn't mean a whole lot, cause remember we have no walls and are in the middle of a major traffic hallway :/) and gather around a pretend fire made of orange "Christmas" lights. I have a flashlight that I use to read by ... plus it has a couple sound effect buttons like a wolf howl or scream. Pushed at the right time they add a nice effect. :]


Sipping Spiders Through A Straw: Campfire Songs For Monsters by Kelly DiPucchio

This one we actually do first before gathering around the fire. We put the book under the document camera and SING. Second grade and up. One year I randomly gave out rubber rats to kids who were singing with gusto. I was then the COOLEST. For a while, anyway. ;]

Haven't read this one yet ... but how cute does it look?
Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds

(10/13/12 update ... Yep! It was a winner. In fact if it wasn't for how cute the kids are listening to it I would be SICK TO DEATH OF IT BY NOW as every K-2nd grade class has wanted to hear it and do some sort of activity ... be it illustrating settings (I should take pics!) or letter matching or number matching or character tree maps.)


Oh, and this one, too. Then back to the ones I've actually read already.
Frankenstein by Rick Walton

(I still like this one ... but decided not to use it with 2nd grade. Headless monsters were kind of gross. Cute but gross.)




When a Monster Is Born by Sean Taylor






AlphaOops: H Is for Halloween by Alethea Kontis





Robot Zombie Frankenstein! by Annette Simon





Ghosts in the House! by Kazuno Kohara

What a lovely little Halloween book to discover at a bookfair just before October.


The 13 Days of Halloween by Carol Greene





Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance by Keith Graves







The Woods by Paul Hoppe




I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll





The House that Drac Built. I read it so long ago that I hate to put it on Goodreads (I like my "count" to be real) but it's pretty fun. Rhyming and spooky illustrations but not ... creepy.

For the older ones ... something out of any one of Robert San Souci's Short & Shivery books.
Or playing them the first few minutes of The Graveyard Book (found here). There's something super spooky about listening to Neil Gaiman (the author)'s English accent telling the story.
PS I SAID SPOOKY!


Here There Be Monsters: the Legendary Kraken and the Giant Squid by H.P. Newquist
(Including this not really as a read aloud but as one to get and maybe have on display or something. It's not perfect (random Tennyson quote) but it is COOL.


I'm sure I'll think of some more (hopefully I'll think of some more?) titles as it gets closer. Got any suggestions?