Pistes d'exploration

Before reading the book, talk about hiccups and the problems they can cause. Make a list of suggestions for getting rid of them.

Read along with the “hic, hic, hic” whenever it appears. Add “hic” to an ongoing list of onomatopeias encountered in your reading. Practise reading them with appropriate expression.

Identify all the action words (verbs) in the book. Put them into alphabetical order.

Name parts of the body, particularly bones, and label them on a picture of a skeleton. 

Talk about hiccups and write a class list of supposed cures.

Read along with the “hic, hic, hic” whenever it appears.

Talk about the skeleton’s activities. What activities do you do? Compare them in a Venn diagram.

Brainstorm for hiccup cures. Select three tips from the class list and illustrate them to add to a mini-book. 

Scarface Claw

Mots-clés

Humour , Picture book , ghosts , Halloween , hiccups , skeletons , traditional remedies

Commentaire descriptif

In this offbeat story, a skeleton wakes up with bone-rattling, teeth-chattering, belly-laughing hiccups that just won’t go away, until a friendly ghost comes along and solves his problem in a most clever and unexpected way. Cuyler’s simple storyline and pared-down text depicts the desperate skeleton as he tries every home remedy to rid himself of the troublesome affliction. Humorous, uncluttered illustrations are filled with visual gags, such as the headstone headboard on his bed or his jaw flying off with the force of his hiccups. The story encourages audience participation with its repetitive “hic, hic, hic” placed strategically, in differing fonts, around each illustration, making it a great read-aloud that beginning independent readers will also enjoy. While this is obviously a good book to read around Halloween, it could also launch a discussion about traditional family remedies, or about the many ways that friends help each other.