Tuesday, October 02, 2007

reading through October

One of our "family traditions" is reading a Halloween/fall book each night during the month of October. (We do the same thing starting the day after Thanksgiving, reading Christmas books.) Anyway, last night being October 1st, marked the start of this year's spook-fest (which won't be too spooky...see previous post).


Last night we read The Hallo-wiener, by Dav Pilkey (yes, of Captain Underpants fame). Nothing scary about this one. Instead, it's the story of Oscar, who is *surprise, surprise* a wiener dog. All the other dogs make fun of poor Oscar because of his unconventional shape. And his mother doesn't help matters when she buys him a hot dog costume for Halloween. Trick-or-treating begins in typical fashion with poor Oscar being left out. The other dogs tease him about his costume, he can't keep up, and all the candy is gone by the time he reaches each house. But yes, there is a happy ending for our "hero" when he finds a way to save the day from some dastardly little cats. A predictable, but cute none-the-less, story. Maxidoodle, in particular, really enjoyed it. (We also read another chapter of Charlotte's Web. Not exactly seasonal reading...but hey, spiders are Halloween-y, right?)

Since finishing my final read for the Non-Fiction Five challenge, I'm back to reading Frankenstein. Perfect October reading, huh?

Also perfect for October reading, MacBeth. We're continuing on our nightly reading, a couple of scenes each night.

Annie managed to complete two of her R.I.P. books yesterday, Ptolemy's Gate, by Jonathan Stroud, and The House With a Clock in Its Walls, by John Bellairs. (I ordered The House through inter-library loan after reading Nymeth's wonderful review. I just knew Annie would love it.) Annie's been really under the weather the last few days, so I just let her stay in bed and nap and read all day. Hopefully, she'll be feeling well enough to write up her reviews today.

Oh, and by the way, the other day when Rich told me to order a book as a reward for completing the challenge, I pre-ordered The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. (I figured I could wait for the paperback version, as it will be available from Amazon on the 9th of this month.) Chris totally sold me with his review!

11 comments:

Jean said...

Oooh! The Thirteenth Tale is on my to-read shelf! Maybe we should read it at the same time and be able to compare notes. Of course, if it's in November, I may be distracted by writing rather than reading, but I'll do my best.

chrisa511 said...

I absolutely loved The House with a Clock in it's walls! I highly recommend the two sequels written by Bellairs...they're even better! The Figure in The Shadows & The Letter, The Witch, and The Ring...they are some of my favorite spooky stories :)

Glad to hear you're reading The Thirteenth Tale too! I promise you'll love that one. I marveled at each page, it's a treasure of a story.

Nikki in Niagara said...

I remember reading that picture book to my oldest when he was little. Good one!

Melody said...

I hope Annie is feeling better today!

The Thirteenth Tale! Oh yes, I have that book in my pile! I have heard lots of good things about it, so I'm looking forward to reading it.

Stacy at Exceedingly Mundane said...

That's such a cool tradition, reading the books before Halloween and then Christmas - you know I love it! And ooh, The Thirteenth Tale. I have that on my library list. Whenever you get to reading it, be sure to let us know what you think!

Happy October!!!

gail@more than a song said...

What a great thing to do each fall, read with your kids each night! They'll have such great memories of that when they're older. Glad you didn't do one that was too spooky!
Hope Annie is feeling better today.

Carrie K said...

That's a great tradition.

Frankenstein was such a good book but he was such a terrible man! Talk about causing your own problems.

MacBeth is my favorite Shakespeare play.

Thanks for dropping by my blog!

Mrs. Micah said...

The Thirteenth Tale is one of those I'm planning to grab if I see it in the library. :-) But with all the stuff I'm doing, I'm having a hard time with my RIP commitments. Should get back into Udolpho...

Dewey said...

I loved The Thirteenth Tale!

Your family tradition is jut adorable. :)

Ana S. said...

I'm sorry to hear Annie has been down... hopefully she'll feel better soon.

I am very tempted to get The Thirteenth Tale soon too. Chris' review was very appealing, and plus Diane Setterfield will be coming here in December for a signing and book discussion, and I really want to read it before then.

Congratulations on finishing the challenge! I really like the idea of getting a book as a reward... extra motivation and extra books :P

CJ said...

Have you read the Bunnicula series of books? They're great for kids and they've got a Halloween one, I believe. My nieces loved them when they were little.

cjh