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THE SPOOKY BOX

Page history last edited by RichiesPicks 10 years, 5 months ago

24 October 2013 THE SPOOKY BOX by Mark Gonyea, Holt, July 2013, 32p., ISBN: 978-0-8050-8813-7 

 

"You hear the door slam

And realize there's nowhere left to run

You feel the cold hand

And wonder if you'll ever see the sun"

-- Michael Jackson, "Thriller" (written by Rod Temperton)

 

"Then Woooooo went the wind

And OUT went the lights

And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight"

-- Traditional preschool rhyme and fingerplay

 

"Oh, it's a BOX!  A SPOOKY box.  I wonder what's INSIDE?

"It could be full of BATS!  Or filled with RATS!

"What if it's SPIDERS?"

 

I just can't help but get so excited when I find one of these books that I could have easily built an entire day around back in my days at the childcare center.

 

This is one of those books.  Being that the book is all sharp black, white, and orange stenciling, and being that Halloween is just a week away, it's a perfect time of year to track this one down and put it to good use.

 

A box shows up on the porch.  What could be inside?  The narrator has us considering all sorts of spooky possibilities for what might be in there.  And, after mustering up the courage to finally open...well, to have US finally open it, we find inside...two MORE boxes!

 

This is a great way to foster kids becoming storytellers. Since we are left never knowing exactly what is inside that box, we can set kids up with a large square drawn on a large sheet of paper, put their imaginations to work, and have them decide what’s inside. Give them the opportunity to dictate to a scribe, if they want to, what is in the box.  Either way, they get to draw their vision.  Markers will work great here.  Finger paints for a more abstract feel.  Another possibility is to employ an Ellison machine, if you have access to one, to cut out all sorts of shapes that they can color and then use glue sticks to fill their boxes if they prefer that route.  This is one of those really open-ended deals that you can have available with varying media and materials on successive days, just waiting for when a kid comes up with yet another great notion for what might be in the box.

 

I'm in awe.  This is an absolute (spooky) gem of a book.

 

Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
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