Stories from the Library: October 19-23

5th Graders loved hearing an abridged version of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Masque of Red Death" this week. In the story, a wealthy prince locks himself and a number of guests in a castle to escape the Red Death, a sickness that has been plauging the countryside. While the people outside are sick and dying, those inside the castle decide to have a masquerade ball. During the ball a mysterious figure dressed like a corpse affected by the Red Death appears and reaks havoc on the entire party. 5th Graders love Poe's storytelling and are amazed that a story written in 1842 can still rival many modern horror tales.
Preschool: Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar? is the repeated question in the picture book by Bonnie Lass and Philemon Sturges. Preschoolers listened and watched as Mr. Skunk makes the rounds with all his animal friends in the desert to figure out who took those cookies!
Junior Kindergarten: Jr. K enjoyed Delicious! by Helen Cooper, another Pumpkin Soup Story about Duck, Cat and Squirrel. When the three roommates run out of ripe pumpkins, they have to improvise and please Duck, a very picky eater.
Kindergarten: In Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems, Leonardo is really a terrible monster; he can't seem to scare anyone! He eventually finds the perfect candidate: a particularly jumpy little boy. Kindergarteners love Willems' fun, minimalist illustrations, his wacky sense of humor and the idea of "scaring the tuna salad out of someone"!
1st Grade: To finish up our unit on Fables, we read Tony Ross's Foxy Fables, a picture book with short chapters featuring some of the more cunning Fable characters. Ross's colorful, cartoonish illustrations and witty interpretations make classic Fables more accessible (and fun) to young readers. 
2nd Grade: 2nd Graders started a unit on Fractured Fairy Tales, a fairly recent genre in which classic fairy tales are twisted up a bit for comedic effect. We started with reading The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugenios Trivizas, a twist on the classic Three Little Pigs story.
3rd Grade:  We revisited our friend Gritch the Witch this week in Broom Mates by Margie Palatini. 3rd Graders learned about puns and found them throughout this very "punny" book about Gritch's interactions with her sister Mag, who comes to help prepare for the annual "howliday" party.
4th Grade: 4th Graders learned about the Dewey Decimal System, the numbered classification system we use to categorize our nonfiction (and some fiction!) books. To help us remember the ten categories better, we looked at the story of Dewey and the Alien on a website designed by a group of students and librarians from Nettleson Intermediate Center in Arkansas.
5th Grade: See opening post.