Our October was a WONDERFUL month! We celebrated by reading some terrific Halloween books, as well as books by the Newbery Award winning author Jack Gantos, who visited Dalton on October 30th.
Here are some of our favorite books for October:
The Costume Copycat by Maryann MacDonald is about a younger sister who always copies her older sister’s Halloween costume, although it never works out well. Students related to being copied, copying others, and then finding what was just right for them.
Ghosts in the House by Kazuno Kohara is short whimsical picture-book about a young witch who happily captures the ghosts in her house to serve useful purposes.
Many adults will fondly remember this classic series: Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard and James Marshall. While not a conventional Halloween story, it is read in the spirit of Halloween as there is a character who dresses in a costume to trick some naughty children..!
Finally, students were blown away by an incredible presentation by Jack Gantos, who not only read aloud a picture book, but showed the picturebook writing process. He even encouraged them with ingenious projects like creating their neighborhood map of secrets spots, and a journal to write their best ideas.
Jack Gantos is the author of Dead End in Norvelt (2011 Newbery Award Winner) and the beloved Rotten Ralph Series.
Rotten Ralph is Sarah’s rotten cat. He’s very selfish and naughty, often making Sarah very upset. Despite all of this, he always manages to save the day in his own rotten way, and the kind Sarah always forgives him. Students adored this rascally cat and it has been one of the highest requested series in our library and students greatly enjoyed listening to these books read aloud.
Please click this link to see the official Dalton news article with more images and video.
