The Vanishing Pumpkin

I love old(ish) picture books. I am a vintage girl at heart and when choosing read alouds I often find myself gravitating towards older books.

Now, The Vanishing Pumpkin is not that old (published in 1983), but it reminds me of the Halloweens of my childhood with illustrations and vocabulary. The Vanishing Pumpkin is a great Halloween mentor text!

The Vanishing Pumpkin is written by Tony Johnston, but it is illustrated by Tomie dePaola who has a very distinct artistic style. If you have any Tomie dePaola books in your classroom library you might want to pull them out to compare the styles before or after your read aloud.

This book is chock full of rich vocabulary:
snitched (stolen), perched, rapscallion, fresh (sassy), varmint, wickedly,

and some fun examples of alliteration:
“lucky lizards”, “in fact, they fairly flew”, “great grizzlies”,

I have created a FREE, quick, cute jack-o-lantern craft and quick writing activity that you could use with this book if you would like. Just click on the dropbox link below to grab yours…

The Vanishing Pumpkin FREE Activity

This would be a great activity in the week leading up to Halloween, or even on Halloween day!

You might also be interested in this video available on Storyline Online (a fantastic resource for the classroom). It is the story Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola and is read by Mary Steenburgen. It would spark a conversation comparing the illustrations in the two stories.

Strega Nona- Storyline Online link

If you are looking for any FUN Halloween resources to use in your class, you might want to check out these…

       

Enjoy and have a great week!