THERE WAS AN OLD LADY WHO SWALLOWED A BAT is filled with bones, bats, owls, cats, ghosts, goblins, and wizards. A comical chain of events begin after an old lady first swallows a bat. Then she swallows a swallows an owl to shush the bat, then she swallows a cat to chase the owl…and so on until she’s swollen with numerous animals, people, and Halloween characters.
Taking place in Old Salem, Massachusetts, Mari Prato’s book features a young typical young lady named Rande. Rande is slightly different from your average girl. Her father recently married, Maureen. Rande thinks that her stepmother is a wicked witch.
Carly Baillie is a twelve-year-old girl who moved to a small town named Steamboat from St. Paul, Minnesota with her parents and older sister, Jackie. The town’s residents believe that the house is haunted, therefore making the house sit empty for two years before the Baillie’s bought it at a bargain price. Shortly after moving into her new room, Carly notices weird things happening around the house. And her sister Jackie is blaming Carly for it.
Stevie’s parents decide that it is time for a change. When they announce that they were looking for a new house-a house with character-Stevie secretly wished that they’d act like normal parents. She just couldn’t understand why her parents were so weird.
THE BALLAD OF JACK O’LANTERN is the story of how children came up with the Halloween Jack O’Lantern.
This month’s column will feature books for special children. If you have a child who has P.D.D, Down Syndrome, A.D.D, autism, A.D.H.D, dyslexia or who has any type of learning disability, then you know that there are books made just for them.
THE BOY WITH THE BIG EAR is an endearing book about a little boy who was born with one ear larger than the other was.
Ray-Ray started his short life in a hospital and throughout his 4 years of life, he had spent many of his days in a hospital…sick and sad. That is until he met his mommy. She didn’t like seeing Ray-Ray sad. She told him that little boys and girls should be happy and loved, so she adopted him. Ray-Ray’s new mommy showed him how to be happy. He spoke of his dreams often of where he didn’t feel sick, he could run and play with other children, everything was bright and clean, and he felt loved. Knowing that he meant Heaven, his mommy cried tears of sadness and tears of joy, as he’d be in a better place.
Mr. Carlson has written a beautiful collection of poems about his brother Kevin, who has autism. Each of the 40 rhyming poems tells the reader what it is like to have a family member with the brain disorder known as autism. The love the author feels for his brother, shows in every word on every page.
I AM GIFTED TOO is about a dyslexic bunny named Kara, who sees words scrambled when she tries to read. When her teacher has her enrolled into a learning difficulties class, Kara begins to see the words better, but she doesn’t feel very good about herself. She doesn’t want her friends to make fun of her. Mr. Panda is her LD teacher, and he shows her how to unscramble the word so she can read them clearly. At first, Kara doesn’t like going to LD class, but when she sees that Mr. Panda’s suggestions work, she then enjoys going to class. Mr. Panda places confidence in Kara, by having her say to herself, “I am gifted too.”