Module 1 Bunnicula

Title of Book: Bunnicula; Authors: Deborah Howe and James Howe; ISBN; 978-1-4169-2817-1; Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. Spanish version available. Title: Bonicula; ISBN 978-0613099776; Publisher: Rebound by Sagebrush


Summary: Harold the dog and Chester the cat live peaceably with their family until one dark and stormy night the family brings home a black and white rabbit they name Bunnicula. A white tomato which has been drained of all its juice is the first indication that something is amiss with their new furry friend. Chester tries unsuccessfully to alert the family to the very real possibility that the new family pet is actually a vampire.


My Impressions: Thanks in large part to Stephanie Meyers and the Twilight series, vampire books are hot right now and this one is suited for the elementary crowd (9-11 year olds). The book is written by Harold the dog who begins the story with, “I come to writing purely by chance. My full-time occupation is dog.” A funny story with lots of opportunities for laughing as Chester the cat, armed with a book on vampires, pits himself against Bunnicula. Some of the highlights include the illustration of Chester lying on his back with his arms outstretched trying to look like a vampire and the hysterical misunderstanding of pounding “a sharp steak into the vampire’s heart.” Although the action is fast paced, I found the middle of the story a bit too long. There are three other books in the series, Howliday Inn, The Celery Stalks at Midnight and Nighty-Nightmare.


Flashlight Reading Under the Covers Rating: 3 out of 5


Reviews and Awards:
Young People's Choice Award in 1982. (Source: Bowker's Books in Print)

"Move over, Dracula! This mystery-comedy is sure to delight." -- New York Times (retrieved from Amazon.com)


Suggestions for Use in a Library: Dazzle your library director! Amazingly easy and fun science demonstration is sure to have kids clamoring for more. Although this chapter book is not a good candidate for a main selection, reading a few pages or a chapter would be a great closing for your story time.

A great science tie in would be to do a demo where you take celery stalks and cut them from the bunch into individual stalks (leave the leaves on) and white (must be white) carnations with freshly cut stems and put them in a glass filled with water then add lots of blue food coloring. On a large sheet of chart paper, write the children’s predictions about what they think will happen. Post the chart paper next to the glass with the plants and leave out for a display. Share the results with them during your next story time. (The plants will have drawn in the water with the blue food coloring and will now have blue tinted leaves and petals) Encourage children to write their comments about what happened on the chart paper.

You may want to introduce the younger children (5-8 years old), to James Howe’s Pinky and Rex series.

Module 1 Caps For Sale

Title of Book: Caps for Sale; Author: Esphyr Slobodkina; ISBN 978-0-06-147-453-8; Published by Harper Collins. Also available in Spanish. Title: Se Venden Corras; ; ISBN: 978-0-06-443-401-0; Published by Rayo.


Summary: Our story finds a peddler, no ordinary peddler mind you, selling caps. Instead of pushing his wares in a cart, he carries them around on his head while yelling, “Caps! Caps for sale. Fifty cents a cap.” Mischievous monkeys come and steal his caps while he is napping under a tree. The peddler’s attempts to retrieve the caps from the monkeys lead to hysterical antics from the monkeys.


My Impressions: What a winner! The easy to follow story, accessible vocabulary and repetitive phrases allow access to a much younger than expected audience. I would recommend 2- 5 year olds. The refrain, “Tsz, tsz, tsz” from the monkeys will be a favorite phrase for the reader. This story just begs to be acted out! You will want to purchase the companion book by the same author Circus Caps for Sale as well.


Flashlight Reading Under the Covers Rating: 5 out of 5


Reviews:

Subtitled A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business, this absurd and very simple story has become a classic, selling hundreds of thousands of copies since its first publication in 1940. A peddler walks around selling caps from a tall, tottering pile on his head. Unable to sell a single cap one morning, he walks out into the countryside, sits down under a tree, checks that all the caps are in place, and falls asleep. When he wakes up, the caps are gone--and the tree is full of cap-wearing monkeys. His attempts to get the caps back generate the kind of repetitive rhythm that 3- and 4-year-olds will adore. (Preschool and older) --Richard Farr -- Amazon.com Review


Good natured nonsense tale in text and pictures. The text is almost unnecessary as text and pictures tell the story of the peddler who fell asleep and had his whole stock in trade of colored caps stolen by the monkeys. And of how mere chance made him do the one thing that persuaded the monkeys to throw away the caps. (Kirkus Reviews) --



Suggestions for Use in a Library: Do you need an ace up your sleeve for your story time repertoire? This is it! Hit the dollar store and get some appropriate colored caps, add a black construction paper mustache and you are all set to act out this story. In advance ask one of the audience members to be the chief monkey who will steal your caps and distribute them to the other monkeys while you are sleeping. Cries of, “Let’s do that again!” are guaranteed. Pair this with Circus Caps for Sale and you are virtually guaranteeing standing room only during your next weekly story time.

This would also be a great book for your English Language Learners to visualize what the phrases “monkey business” and “monkey see, monkey do” refer to.

This book (English version) was also featured in the long time children's television program Reading Rainbow.