Pistes d'exploration

How does Mouse respond each time he or she encounters something unfamiliar? Create a list of interjections that could be used to describe his or her fears. Refer to this list when writing in your journal or creating a story.

Distinguish between interjections and onomatopoeias. List the onomatopoeias in the story. What type of punctuation do they have in common? Why are these words important? How do they contribute to the mysteriousness of the story? 

Look closely at the shadows created in the illustrations. Can you predict what object or animal Mouse is about to encounter? How does Mouse feel after he recognizes the objects?

What other objects or animals could Mouse encounter on Halloween night? Create an additional page layout using the same format as the book.

As the book is read aloud, join in for the recurrent passages. 

Predict what will happen next, each time you get to “What could it be?” Use the shadows as clues.

See @@000000@~@ for an LES on creating a guided personalized version of a story.

Make themed word cards by pasting labels onto matching vocabulary pictures. With a partner, sort out words related to fall, and words more specifically related to Halloween. 

A Dark, Dark Tale, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat!

Mots-clés

Picture book , emotions , fear , Halloween , mice , onomatopoeias , recurrent language , stories in rhyme

Commentaire descriptif

In this one of the Mouse’s First series, Mouse is creeping about one fall night and notices something flying, something moving and something flapping. What is going on? Follow Mouse’s reactions as he discovers Halloween. The book’s repetitive lines (“‘Eeek!’ Mouse squeaked”, “What could it be?” and “That’s all. Not so scary after all.”) encourage audience prediction and participation. The text relies heavily on sound effects (“Plop! Plop! Plop!” “Thump! Thump! Thump!”) and the occasional rhyme. Dark and shadowy double spreads focus on Mouse listening for the eerie sounds, with only partial vision of the objects, encouraging readers to use image and sound clues to guess what they might be. When each benign Halloween mystery is revealed in a clever, playful font, Mouse finally relaxes and moves on to the next scary thing. Despite the built-in suspense, this is the perfect choice for first-time Trick-or-Treaters or children with Halloween-related fears: the book turns fear on its end by concluding how much fun it is to be scared.