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Storytime Mellie

Halloween

Inclusive Story Time: Halloween: Monsters

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Books:

Monster Trouble by Lane Fredrickson and Michael Robertson

How to Catch a Monster by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton

One Spooky Night: A Halloween Adventure by Kate Stone

Flannel Poem:

Adapted from “The Goblin” by Jack Prelutsky

There’s a goblin as green (purple, yellow, blue, pink)

As a goblin can be

Who is sitting outside

And is waiting for me.

When he knocked on my door

And said softly “Come play!”

I answered, “No thank you,

Now please, go away!”

But the goblin as green (purple, yellow, blue, pink)

As a goblin can be

Is still outside

And is waiting for me.

Song:

The Haunted House
Sung to: “The Wheels on the Bus”

The ghost in the house goes “Boo! Boo! Boo!”
“Boo! Boo! Boo!” “Boo! Boo! Boo!”
The ghost in the house goes “Boo! Boo! Boo!”
On Halloween.

The witch in the house goes “Hee! Hee! Hee”
“Hee! Hee! Hee” “Hee! Hee! Hee”
The witch in the house goes “Hee! Hee! Hee”
On Halloween.

The mummy in the house goes “shh! Shh! Shh!”
“shh! Shh! Shh!” “shh! Shh! Shh!”
The mummy in the house goes “shh! Shh! Shh!”
On Halloween.

The bats in the house go “Eee!  Eee! Eee!”
“Eee!  Eee! Eee!” “Eee!  Eee! Eee!”
The bats in the house go “Eee!  Eee! Eee!”
On Halloween.

The owls in the house go “Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!”
“Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!” “Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!”
The owls in the house go “Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!”
On Halloween.

The vampire in the house goes “Mwuhahaha!”
“Mwuhahaha!” “Mwuhahaha!”
The vampire in the house goes “Mwuhahaha!”
On Halloween.

Inclusive Story Time: Halloween–Trick or Treat? 2

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Books:

Bad Kitty Scaredy-Cat by Nick Bruel

And Then Comes Halloween by Tom Brenner and Holly Meade

Pumpkin Eye by Denise Fleming

Flannel Game:

I’ve got a little white pumpkin
Cutest I’ve ever seen
But I hope my little white pumpkin
Turns orange for Halloween

(continue with the other colors and end with the orange pumpkin.)

Credit: One Little Librarian

Song:

With this one I dangle a plastic spider on a string on the place mentioned in each verse. I start out dangling it on my leg, knee, etc., but then, of course, the kids want me to do it on them. So it is going to be bittersweet doing it this year when the only kid in the room will be one who signed up to Book Your Bubble and is 12 feet away from me and I can’t possibly dangle my spider on them —-oooooohhh but I could have a second spider and Mom could dangle it. 🙂

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Poem:

Skeleton Parade by Jack Prelutsky

The skeletons are out tonight,

They march about the street

with bony bodies, bony heads

And boy hands and feet.

Bony bony bony bones,

with nothing in between,

up and down and all around

They march on Halloween

Inclusive Story Time: Halloween–Trick or Treat?

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Books:

Halloween Here I Come! By D.J. Steinberg and Laurie Stansfield

Ollie’s Halloween by Olivier Dunrea

Six Creepy Sheep by Judith Ross Enderle, Stephanie Gordon Tessler and John O’Brien

Flannel Story:

Purple owl, Purple Owl, What do you see?

(Story adapted from: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin jr.)

Purple owl, purple owl, what do you see?

I see a white ghost looking at me.

White ghost, white ghost, what do you see?

I see a purple bat looking at me.

Purple bat, purple bat. What do you see?

I see a Black Cat looking at me.

Black cat, black cat what do you see?

I see a purple witch looking at me.

Purple witch, purple witch, what do you see.

I see an orange pumpkin looking at me.

Orange orange pumpkin what do you see?

I see a jack O’ Lantern looking at me.

Credit: Sturdy for Common Things

Song:

The Haunted House
Sung to: “The Wheels on the Bus”

The ghost in the house goes “Boo! Boo! Boo!”
“Boo! Boo! Boo!” “Boo! Boo! Boo!”
The ghost in the house goes “Boo! Boo! Boo!”
On Halloween.

The witch in the house goes “Hee! Hee! Hee”
“Hee! Hee! Hee” “Hee! Hee! Hee”
The witch in the house goes “Hee! Hee! Hee”
On Halloween.

The mummy in the house goes “shh! Shh! Shh!”
“shh! Shh! Shh!” “shh! Shh! Shh!”
The mummy in the house goes “shh! Shh! Shh!”
On Halloween.

The bats in the house go “Eee!  Eee! Eee!”
“Eee!  Eee! Eee!” “Eee!  Eee! Eee!”
The bats in the house go “Eee!  Eee! Eee!”
On Halloween.

The owls in the house go “Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!”
“Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!” “Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!”
The owls in the house go “Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!”
On Halloween.

The vampire in the house goes “Mwuhahaha!”
“Mwuhahaha!” “Mwuhahaha!”
The vampire in the house goes “Mwuhahaha!”
On Halloween.

Poem:

From It’s Halloween by Jack Prelutsky and Marylin Hafner

Three Halloween tricksters are we”

My sister, my brother and me.

We roam through the streets

Playing tricks, getting treats”

Three Halloween tricksters are we.

Sister’s a witch dressed in black,

Brother wears bones front and back,

I’m a ghost with no face

In an old pillowcase–Three Halloween tricksters are we.

We are scary as scary can be–

My sister, my brother and me.

We frighten each other,

We even scare mother–

Three Halloween tricksters are we.

Flannel Friday–Purple Owl, Purple Owl What do you See?

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(Story adapted from: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin jr.)

Purple owl, purple owl, what do you see?

I see a white ghost looking at me.

White ghost, white ghost, what do you see?

I see a purple bat looking at me.

Purple bat, purple bat. What do you see?

I see a Black Cat looking at me.

Black cat, black cat what do you see?

I see a purple witch looking at me.

Purple witch, purple witch, what do you see.

I see an orange pumpkin looking at me.

Orange orange pumpkin what do you see?

I see a jack O’ Lantern looking at me.

Credit: Sturdy for Common Things

Halloween Books for Inclusive Story Times

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And Then Comes Halloween by Tom Brenner and Holly Meade: This is not the most inclusive book. It focuses on a white family getting ready for Halloween but they have a black friend who appears on many pages.

Halloween Here I Come by D.J. Steinberg and Laurie Stansfield is new to the collection this year. This one has children of many ethnicities throughout the pages.

Nancy’s Ghostly Halloween by Krista Tucker: The protagonist is white but her best friend is black and shares most of the “screen time” with her!

Trick Arr Treat by Leslie Kimmelman and Jorge Monlongo: The main protagonist is a young black girl and her friends are a mixture of ethnicities.

One Spooky Night: A Halloween Adventure by Kate Stone: The main character isn’t revealed until the last page as he is in costume, but he ends up being a young boy with brown skin.

Pumpkin Eye by Denise Fleming: The children in this book are white and brown skinned.

How to Catch a Monster by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton: the young protagonist in this book appears to be Asian, a bit of a stereotype as he is dressed as a ninja to catch the monster.

I See Fall by Charles Ghign and Ag Jatkowska starts out being about fall but has several pages devoted to Halloween. The children in the book are of many ethnicities.

Halloween Day by Anne Rockwell and Lizzy Rockwell takes place at school as the children try to guess who each of the others is. The children are of many different ethnicities.

The ABCs of Halloween by Lydia Nichols show children in some pretty strange Halloween costumes like Bread and Butter and Underwear as well as regular Halloween standbyes to make the alphabet work. The illustrations are charming and feature children of many ethnicities.

Monster Trouble by Lane Fredrickson and Michael Robertson: I use this book for every monster story time I ever do. The young protagonist is a very funny black girl.

Halloween, Here I Come and Thanksgiving, Here I come by D.J. Steinberg and Sara Palacios

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I always have a hard time pulling together an inclusive story time at the holidays so I was delighted to find these two books filled with images of children from various races. It has fun rhyming text with a great sense of humor. They also have stickers at the back, which is a nice bonus since diverse stickers can be hard to come by.

The Itty-Bitty Witch by Trisha Speed Shaskan

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I ran across this book on the shelf the other day so I’m posting about it. I wish I would have seen it during Halloween! Betty is teased by her friends for being the tiniest witch in the first grade and they constantly call her “Itty Bitty.” She thinks if she can possibly win the Halloween Dash, maybe they won’t tease her anymore.