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We are excited to share our October Children’s Book of the Month selections for both early and late elementary, Monster Boogie and Halloween Hustle. Watch for details on our Facebook Live Halloween feature on Thursday at 3:30 CST!

Early Elementary:

Monster Boogie

by Laurie Berkner
Illustrated by Ben Clanton
#868368   Hardcover   $17.99

Monster Boogie

Monster Boogie is an illustrated song by Laurie Berkner, a best-selling and award-winning children’s recording artist.  We love this book because it takes the often scary idea of monsters and flips it on its head by making them fun and friendly!  They’re so friendly, you can do the “Monster Boogie” with them!  All they want to do is dance!

There are multiple recordings of this song available online, and the actual piano/vocal music for the song is printed on the back cover of the book inside the book jacket so you can play and sing it with your students!

We also love Monster Boogie because it pairs perfectly with our newest puppet friends – our Baby Monsters!  And our Baby Monsters look very similar to the monsters in the book …

 

Monster Boogie is Fantastic for October!

This book has multiple uses for October – or any other time of year!  We think October because monsters are huge at Halloween.  Have the students make up their own Monster Boogie and dance along as they sing!  They can play non-pitched percussion to mark the steady beat, and they could even act out the story with the monster sneaking into the children’s room … and then breaking into the dance!  Berkner suggests having students create their own “monster mask” in her video for the song – a great idea!  Creativity abounds!

Late Elementary / Middle School: 

Halloween Hustle

by Charlotte Gunnufson
Illustrated by Kevan J. Atteberry
#862958   Hardcover   $16.99

Halloween Hustle

Halloween Hustle is another great find for Halloween / October!  It tells the story of a skeleton and his monster friends on their way to a Halloween party.  However, along the way, the skeleton keeps tripping on things and turning into a pile of bones!  His friends put him back together repeatedly, and eventually, they make it to the party – just in time for the dance contest!

While the story is cute, it’s the way it’s constructed that caught our attention.  This is because the text is written in rhythmic verse and can be easily read or rapped to a funky beat.  There are a bunch of words, and keeping things aligned with the beat can be difficult.  Hence, we designate this book for the older students.  However, the little ones would also love it if the teacher reads it out loud!

There are also repeated stanzas each time the skeleton falls:

Bones scatter!
What a clatter!
Spine is like a broken ladder! 

Halloween Hustle could easily turn into a sound story with instruments played each time this phrase comes along.  You could also have a group of students “rap” the story, with the rest of the class coming in on the repeated lines.  Students could dress up like the monsters (there are plenty to pick from) and act out the story –  we can envision a cool class video that you could share with the rest of the school!  We love this story!

The author has put together this trailer for the book to give you a taste – check it out!

Additional Halloween Titles to Try (mentioned in our Facebook Live):

Join us on Facebook! 

We’d love to hear your thoughts on how you could use either of these books in your classrooms.  We’ll be live on our West Music Facebook page Thursday, October 18th at 3:30 CST to show you additional books you could use for Halloween!  The broadcast will also be posted on our page if you can’t join us for the live event.

Thanks in advance for being part of our West Music community of teachers!

Andrea Pelloquin

Andrea Pelloquin

Andrea Pelloquin is the Education Consultant specializing in print materials, recorders, Nuvo instruments, and puppets at West Music. She is a former public school music teacher and has spent the last 15 years in the world of music publishing and retail. She has also maintained a private flute and piano studio for over 20 years.  She welcomes suggestions and recommendations from our community of teachers.