Title: The celery stalks at midnight
Author: James Howe ;
Illustrator: Leslie Morrill.
Publisher: Atheneum, p1983, c1983
ISBN-13: 978-0-689-30987-8
ISBN-10: 0-689-30987-2
Interest/Reading Levels: 3-6 Grade, 4.0
Book
Summary:
Did you ever wonder what in the
world dogs and cats have to worry about?
You might be surprised to know it is a vampire bunny that sucks vegetables
of their juices until they are white! This
classic book is told in first person view by a lovable old dog, Harold, who is drug on a campaign against the “evil”
bunny by his friends the cat, Chester, and young puppy, Howie. Who knows what mischief they will find themselves
in while trying to save the town by skewing potential vampire-minion-vegetables
with toothpicks!
My
Thoughts:
I am surprised this collection of
books has escaped my notice for this long. A librarian friend says she has a
hard time keeping them on the shelf, which I can completely understand! Howe has a delightful way of portraying each
of the animals completely as we would see their species to be. I was shocked to hear the reference to the
dog eating the chocolate! NAUGHTY! We should remind our modern readers this can
kill a dog J. I read this book in
one sitting unable to put it down and ran to the library to get the others the
next day. There are many puns given by
the young Howie (who thinks he is brilliantly funny); readers are sure to
laugh!
Library
Toolbox of Tips and Tricks:
This book is a good example of Plot
Structure. Use discussion groups to
figure out the book’s exposition, rising action, climax, falling
action and resolution.
Have
students bring a stalk of celery to the library to stick in jars of water with
food coloring. Once absorbed, have students
peel back the layers to see how deeply the change has become. (This can be done
in time intervals to see whose has changed the most.) Have students use library
computers to research on how the change happened and why!
References:
Image:
The Celery Stalks at Midnight [cover image] Retrieved
SID=ca64d7cb99098f880603646523604973&type=cover.
No comments:
Post a Comment