Happy Halloween!

I'm really liking this recycled book craft. Happy Halloween!

Halloween feltboards

Here are two felt boards I whipped together for Halloween.

I'm really happy with this bat one. The kids loved the sparkles on some of the bats.

Here's the rhyme I used:
Five Black Bats
Five black bats are flying around,
The first one did not make a sound.
The second one said, "I'll fly far tonight"
The third one said, "I don't like sunlight"
The fourth one said, "I want to eat some bugs"
The fifth one said, "I want some hugs"
Five black bats are hanging upside down
Shhhh! It's daytime, don't make a sound!

This pumpkin felt board was popular as well, even though it's not quite as cute as I hoped. Maybe I'll re-do it by next year.

I used this old classic:

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh my, it's getting late."
The second one said, "There are ghosts in the air."
The third one said, "We don't care!"
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run."
The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"
Oooooh, went the wind
And out went the lights
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

All Hallows Read posters

What's All Hallows Read? Simple: give someone a scary book for Halloween. It was started a couple of years ago by Neil Gaiman.

Check out this whole set of fantastic All Hallows Read posters by Sabrina Zbasnik at her blog.

Book Blogger Hop 15

The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books.

This week's question is:

What's your favorite candy?


What a good question... I don't really like most candy. I don't like sugar for it's own sake, although I do like sweet things. I do like chocolate. Hmmm. If I had to pick, I guess I'd say Reese's Peanut Butter cups.


When I was very young, one of the first movies I ever saw was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder. The movie gave me nightmares! Sure, sure, everyone's scared of the Oompa Loompas, but the scary boat ride, the girl who blows up into a blueberry, the scene where they lick wallpaper and fly away? The whole thing is full of trippy moments like that. In grade school, I was encouraged to read the book, and not judge it by the movie... but the opening scene has four decrepit grandparents all sleeping in the same bed which seemed a little creepy to me too. I've harbored a deep distrust of Mr. Roald Dahl ever since.

The Very Best Pumpkin review

The Very Best Pumpkin

by Mark Kimball Moulton, illustrated by Karen Hillard Good

Simon & Schuster

2010

This is a sweet, simple tale of a boy named Peter who spends the year carefully tending a runt of a pumpkin, until, by fall, his efforts are rewarded with a beautiful specimen of pumpkin. He generously gives the pumpkin as a gift to the shy girl next door, Meg, an act which seals their friendship.  I enjoyed the illustration of her, hiding behind a book, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The ink and watercolor art is aged with coffee stains, and the deliberate curlicues throughout lend a country-kitchen feel to this feel-good fall story. The art reminded me very strongly of Mary Englebreit with just a touch of Tomie DePaola. Full-color spreads are occasionally punctuated with illustrated borders featuring ladybugs, roses, bees and oak leaves.

There is an addendum in the back, with advice for growing your own pumpkin. Families who are looking for a seasonally appropriate, yet totally not-at-all-scary story for Halloween will be very pleased with this offering.


I borrowed this book from the library.

Incredible pumpkin carving

I had no idea that children's book author illustrator David Rochelle is such an expert pumpkin carver. Two of my favorite picture books of all time, The End (a fairytale that takes place in reverse) and The Best Pet of All (about a boy who brings home a dragon) were written by him.

Wow! What creativity. So beautiful. There's more, lots more, at his website.

If that's not enough for you, be sure to check out this collection of science-fiction and fantasy themed pumpkin carvings (many of them book inspired) at flickr.

Zombie Felties review

Zombie Felties: How to Raise 16 Gruesome Felt Creatures from the Undead

by Nicola Tedman and Sarah Skeate

Andrews McMeel Publishing

2010

Just in time for Halloween, Tedman and Skeate bring us this collection of creative crafts. Never in the history of ever have zombies looked quite so gosh-darn cute! Page after page of this attractive volume feature full-color photographs of mini-zombie felt creations, including a zombie bride, zombie vampire duck, a zombie pirate and many more.

Readers will find the clearly-labeled instructions and a preface including hints and tips on basic stitches extremely helpful for getting started. Each project is rated by difficulty level: one skull for the easiest projects, and up to four skulls for challenging zombies. Japanese-inspired design with tiny bodies and wobbly oblong heads gives each feltie a very kawaii look despite the pink beads representing brains spilling out, or the red embroidery floss for oozing guts... leaving one unsure if you'd rather run screaming or snuggle these little guys.

Tiny, simple to make, and easy to completely hand-sew, making the zombie dolls from this book will be much easier if you are already a crafter with lots of scraps and notions to choose from. Still, I see no reason why an enterprising YA librarian couldn't acquire a few sheets of felt, some embroidery floss and an assortment of beads and turn the book into inspiration for a Halloween craft library program. Teens with a twisted sense of humor will love these undead felt dolls.


I borrowed this book from the library.

I'm happy to be hosting Nonfiction Monday today.  Leave a comment, and I'll add you to the Round-Up!  I'll be checking in and updating through-out the day.

Thanks again, to Anastasia Suen for organizing Nonfiction Monday.  Be sure and check out her line-up for the next few months... there may still be a few upcoming hosting spots available.  And don't forget to check out Nonfiction Monday next week, hosted at Picture Book of the Day.

Comments seem to have gone all kerfluey.  If you want to be included in the list, and haven't been able to leave a comment, drop me a line at madiganreads (at) gmail.com.

And here's the line-up!  (So far.)

• Jeff Barger is reviewing Country Road ABC by Arthur Geisert.
• Travis Jonker is reviewing The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux by Emily Arnold McCully.
• Anastasia Suen is reviewing John Greenwood's Journey to Bunker Hill by Marty Rhodes Figley.
• Angela Craft is reviewing The Good, The Bad and the Barbie by Tanya Lee Stone.
• Lit Lass is reviewing Straight Hair, Curly Hair by Augusta Goldin and Ed Emberly.
• Kim Hutmacher is reviewing A Day on the Mountain by Kevin Kurtz.
• Doret is reviewing FDR's Alphabet Soup by Tanya Bolden.
• Abby is reviewing DragonArt Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon by J. "NeonDragon" Peffer.
• And it looks like Charlotte has reviewed the exact same book!
• The Fourth Musketeer is reviewing Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill and illustrated by Bryan Collier.
• Roberta is reviewing A Kid’s Guide to Latino History: More than 50 Activities by Valerie Petrillo.
• Alex is reviewing Sweethearts of Rhythm by Marilyn Nelson.
• Jennifer is reviewing Case Closed? Nine Mysteries Unlocked by Modern Science by Susan Hughes, illustrated by Michael Wandelmaier.
• Becky is reviewing They Called Themselves the KKK by Susan Bartoletti.
• Tammy Flanders is reviewing a whole collection of books that use woven materials in their illustrations.
• Shelf-Employed is reviewing All Aboard! Elijah McCoy’s Steam Engine by Monica Kulling, illustrated by Bill Slavin.
• Wendie Old points our attention to two wonderful non-fiction review blogs, Nonfiction Matters and I.N.K.: Interesting Nonfiction for Kids.
• Janet Squires is reviewing Paper Crafts for Halloween by Randel McGee.
• Last, but definitely not least, Shirley Duke is reviewing WILD Alphabet by Mike Haines and Julia Frolich.

Halloween Puppets

Halloween has always been my favorite time of year. Dressing up, costumes, candy, what's not to like? I'm just gutted that my new library won't be open at that time! Normally, I love to throw a Halloween party for the kids, with ghost stories, coloring contests and the like.

I enjoy working with felt, and last year decided to try my hand at making some felt puppets. Here are the results.

I'm very pleased with the way that this witch looks. I might have tried to find a slightly paler shade of green for her skin, but this was what I had handy at the moment. The main problem is that her hat makes her a bit top-heavy. I should find some way of supporting her hat better. Maybe some chenille stem supports, wired inside?

This troll looks alright. He doesn't necessarily look terribly "trollish" but, I think that gives him a bit of versatility. I put him in a vest because I always picture trolls wearing vests.

I'm pretty happy with this ghost. You can get some good motion going with his arms.

This ghost is also a success. He has a much smaller range of motion, but he looks great gliding back and forth.

This mummy is by far, my favorite. With his arms so straight, he looks quite zombie-like when he moves about. This puppet was easy as pie to whip together. I drew the lines of his "wrappings" with fabric marker, and he's instantly recognizable. I tried several different shapes for his mouth, but this simple rectangle seems to work best.

West Hollywood Book Fair 2009

Last week, I made it out to the annual West Hollywood Book Fair. It's certainly a much smaller and easier book festival to navigate than the gargantuan Los Angeles Festival of Books that I attended earlier this year. The organizers estimated a crowd of 40,000 for the West Hollywood Book Fair, compared to a whopping 130,000 for the Festival of Books. To be honest, I think 40,000 might be a tad generous. The Fair did manage to feel bustling but not overwhelming. I was only there for 3 or 4 hours, but I managed to see a lot. The weather was just perfect, with just a hint of snap in the air and clear blue skies.

New this year, I noticed several reading tents set up. I loved them! So simple and cozy with plenty of soft chairs to plop down on with one's latest finds. I confess, I expected to see a corporate sponsor for the reading tents, and was a little pleased and surprised when there didn't seem to be one.

One of the first things to catch one's attention was the yaoi booth set up prominently at the Fair entrance. Oh my!

A little further in, I found this Halloween themed booth.

I'd hoped to see Francesca Lia Block, who was signing copies of her newest book, Wood Nymph Seeks Centaur, but unfortunately, I missed her. I did run into June Sobel who was signing over in the children's area though! Other random celebrities present that weekend included Bob Barker and Carol Channing.

I hit up a couple of science-fiction/fantasy panels. A group from World of Warcraft publishing gave a presentation about their upcoming line of tie-in novels. I also listened in on "Comics on Comics" a group of podcasting comedians who provide commentary on comic books.

The children's area had a craft table that looked pretty busy, and several presentations of Shakespeare by kids, some in costume, paraded across the kids' stage. Teens were occupied on the mikes, sharing poetry.

Halloween's around the corner, so I was glad to see this ghost-stories tent. Inside was sufficiently darkened to lend a spooky atmosphere to the dramatic readings shared.

There was plenty of swag to be had at this Fair. Much more than usual. I lucked out and happened to win a raffle prize of free books right away. I also got several recycled cloth bags. I wasn't shy about snagging some kids' posters for my library, either. Speaking of which... the Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on freebies for bloggers. It occurred to me, as I was leaving West Hollywood that I hadn't really mentioned my blog to anyone. I'm fairly confident that none of the free books I received were in consideration of that. I will start mentioning where I've acquired my books in future reviews, however. I'll have more to say about that in upcoming post.

Puppetry!

Yesterday I went to a meeting of Los Angeles P.A.L.S., Puppets and Library Storytimes. If you happen to be in the area and you have the chance to go to one of their monthly meetings then you definitely should. It was like balm to the soul. I feel so inspired and refreshed. The meeting was a fairly casual gathering of librarians and other puppet enthusiasts to share ideas. We met at the Pacific Park branch of the Glendale library, which is a beautiful complex, co-owned by the library and the local school.

Judy Woodworth from artfelt.net happened to be there, as well as Stephanie Stokes from LibraryPalooza.net.

Judy's feltboard finger puppets are adorable. She gave an amazing presentation at my work a few months ago. She has so much energy, enthusiasm and knowledge, it was great to be able to sit and chat with her in a more intimate setting. She shared a lot of educational rhymes, talked about ways to reuse the same puppets with different performances, and displayed some different techniques for incorporating puppets into storytimes.

Judy proposes using both the front and back of one's hand when using finger puppets, either to take advantage of a two-sided puppet, or to facilitate quick "exits" or "appearances" of puppet characters. It's the kind of thing which takes practice and some forethought, but the effects can be really stunning. I'm enthralled with her idea to try using a finger puppet on one forefinger as you read a book. I simply must try it!

We all brought puppets and ideas to share, and were riffing on how we might use them differently. I was consistently impressed with how quick and inventive Stephanie Stokes was. Within moments, she'd come up with half a dozen ideas. She shared a simple and affordable Halloween craft, by taking a clear plastic glove and drawing faces on the fingertips in marker, creating a "5 Little Ghosts" puppet.

Stephanie demonstrates her "ghosts."

Sigrid Hudson, the organizer of the event, brought a craft for everyone to work on. We attached orange pom-poms to a black glove to create a jack o'lantern hand. There are a couple of great rhymes one could use with this.

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh, my it's getting late!"
The second one said, "We don't care!"
The third one said, "There are leaves all in the air!"
The fourth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"
The fifth one said, "Let's run and run and run!"
Then Whoooooosh... went the wind,
And out went the light!
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Five Little Jack O'Lanterns

Five little jack-o’lanterns glowing by the door
Father took one and that left four.

Four little jack-o’lanterns, a sight to see

Mother took one and that left three.

Three little jack-o’lanterns lit through and through

Brother took one and that left two.

Two little jack-o’lanterns greeting everyone,

Sister took one and that left one.
One little jack-o’lantern, with a great big grin
I picked him up and took him in.

One could even substitute "pumpkins" for "bunnies" from the Tired Bunnies rhyme.

Tired Pumpkins

"Come my pumpkins, it's time for bed."
That's what Mother Pumpkin said.
"But first I'll count you just to see,
If you have all come back to me.
One, Two, Three, oh dear,
Four, Five, yes, you're all here!
You're the sweetest things alive.
My pumpkins 1,2,3,4,5."

Interested in coming to a meeting of Los Angeles P.A.L.S.? It's easy. Just drop Sigrid a line at sigridhudson@gmail.com.