Facing Your Fears

It's Halloween week! To celebrate the occasion, we read books about facing your fears.

In grades K-1, we read "Lu and the Swamp Ghost." As an added bonus, our copy of the book came with a CD recording of the book read by author, James Carville. Lu lives near a swamp in Louisiana during the Depression, but her family believes that you are rich if you have family and one good friend. Lu finds an unusual friend in an unusual place as she befriends someone she might otherwise be afraid of. We particularly loved hearing James Carville read the book. His accent and fluctuations made the book a unique experience for the students.

For grades 2-3, we read "Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve." This book by Mary Osborne is part of the Magic Tree House series--a wonderful educational series in which Jack and Annie visit a Tree House owned by a magical librarian and Merlin, the sorcerer. In the tree house, the two can go on many different adventures just by opening a book and wishing to visit. Merlin also sends the pair on missions to find certain magical objects and solve riddles and rhymes. In this particular book, Jack and Annie must set a castle in order, but first, they must figure out what is wrong. They enter the castle and encounter a floating bone and a chess game happening seemingly without players.

We are currently encouraging our second and third graders to read all of the books in the Magic Tree House series by engaging them in the "Passport to Adventure" activity. Students read Magic Tree House books, then they can answer three questions and earn a stamp for their passport. For more information on this adventure, visit http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/magictreehouse/passport-to-adventure.html

For grades 4-6, we read "School of Fear" by Gitty Daneshvari. In this book, four children suffering from various phobias come together at an eclectic and exclusive school where they must face their fears and hopefully overcome them. With delightful, quirky characters, Daneshvari spins an entertaining tale that will keep you laughing and hoping that these children can work through their problems. The book also drops bits of true wisdom here and there, reminding us that change is a process and big problems can't be fixed overnight.

We hope you all have a fun, safe haunting this Hallows Eve! Pull out a good book this weekend!