"John Pig's Halloween"

John Pig's Halloween

Written by: Jan L. Waldron

Illustrated by: David McPhail

Published by Dutton Children's Books in NY in 1998

ISBN: 0-525-45941-3

Genre: Picture Book

Reading Level: Grade 2

Activity Level: Grades K, 1, and 3

Summary: This is a book about several pigs getting ready for Halloween and this one pig, named John, who was too afraid, decided to stay inside. Then, he heard a sound at the door and opened it to find a yellow stripped cat and a witch at his door. They begin cooking a molasses-and-spice pumpkin pie and many more trick-or-treaters come to join the fun and partake of the delicious baked goods. His friends come back and feel badly for John, who they mistakenly think has been lonely all night and find him ready to offer them many Halloween treats. He went to bed that night less afraid and more excited about his new friends.

Response: One thing I especially enjoyed about this book was that each line rhymed with the next throughout the book. It makes the book easier to read and more interesting to listen to.

I believe the illustrations in this book are watercolor and are in somewhat muted colors since it is set on Halloween night. The costumes of these creatures are very creative and adorable! Each illustration is a single-page spread, except for those during the party. The double-page spreads incorporate so much of the actions of the cooking process and dancing, enthusiastic characters having fun at the party.

Teaching Connections: This book could be read to a group of Kindergartners or first graders and could lead into a discussion about rhyming in writing. The class could choose another holiday and then write a rhyming poem about it as a class. To begin this activity, students could think of popular foods for that holiday, family traditions, and others of their favorite aspects of the day. After making a list of these things, the poem could be written incorporating as many of these aspects as possible. (Kindergarten English/Language Arts objective 1.02 Develop phonemic awareness and knowledge of alphabetic principle: demonstrate understanding that spoken language is a sequence of identifiable speech sounds. demonstrate understanding that the sequence of letters in the written word represents the sequence of sounds in the spoken word.
demonstrate understanding of the sounds of letters and understanding that words begin and end alike (onsets and rimes)) (First grade English/Language Arts objective 1.01 Develop phonemic awareness and demonstrate knowledge of alphabetic principle: count syllables in a word.
blend the phonemes of one-syllable words. segment the phonemes of one-syllable words.
change the beginning, middle, and ending sounds to produce new words.create and state a series of rhyming words that may include consonant blends (e.g., flag, brag).)

This book could also be used as a health lesson. The teacher could use it to discuss how holidays like Halloween can be bad for our teeth due to sugary candies and bad for our health also because of all of the sweets. She could caution children to be mindful of how much they eat during this time of the year. After talking about eating candy, the teacher could also demonstrate the proper teeth-brushing technique. (Kindergarten Health Objectives 2.02 Demonstrate proper technique for brushing teeth and summarize reasons for not sharing a toothbrush,4.03 Identify foods and beverages that are healthy choices for teeth and bones, and4.05 Demonstrate the ability to select a healthy breakfast and lunch with a variety of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and low fat dairy products.)

Also, this book could be the springboard from which the teacher begins talking about things that help students meet first grade health objectives 4.02 Identify a variety of foods that are healthy choices in each of the food groups, 4.03 Summarize the benefits of eating a variety of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and low fat dairy products, and 4.04 Identify foods and beverages high in added sugar and generate examples of appealing healthy alternatives.

The class could also discuss Halloween, and year-round, safety such as not opening the door for strangers and not taking food from people your parents do not approve of. (Kindergarten health objective 3.03 Demonstrate protective behaviors to use when approached by strangers.)

Another health lesson that could be incorporated through this book is about friends and how important they are. They help support us and be less lonely; they encourage our self-confidence and make life more fun. The pig, for example, was much less lonely after he had a get-together with his friends.

For third graders, teachers could incorporate the baking in the book into a math lesson around Halloween. She could ask her students what types of things they might bake on this holiday and they could create a recipe for some of these things and discuss proportions and fractions related to measurements in the kitchen. (Third grade math objective 1.05 Use area or region models and set models of fractions to explore part-whole relationships. Represent fractions concretely and symbolically (halves, fourths, thirds, sixths, eighths). Compare and order fractions (halves, fourths, thirds, sixths, eighths) using models and benchmark numbers (zero, one-half, one); describe comparisons. Model and describe common equivalents, especially relationships among halves, fourths, and eighths, and thirds and sixths. Understand that the fractional relationships that occur between zero and one also occur between every two consecutive whole numbers.
Understand and use mixed numbers and their equivalent fraction forms.)

What Students Learn: From this book children can learn a lot about rhyming words and sharing with one another. They can learn from these activities a lot about health and interactions with one another and with strangers!

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