"We are going to read a book from one of our favorite authors today. Remember when we read " Ben Franklinstein Lives!"? This is "Even Monsters Need Haircuts' and this book is also by Matthew McElligott. Since we have already read a book by this author what kind of book do you think this one will be?At the end of the book our main character forgets something important. You will have to look closely to see what it is, then we can talk about how that will affect his dad the next day.Openings:Prompt children to anticipate a book by a favorite author. Ask children to think about the writer's style and typical theme or topic.Prompt the listeners to notice details. Look at this book [show cover]; describe to me what is going on? [Children respond] This book is about a little boy who is a barber. Does anyone know or can guess what a barber does? [Children respond] A barber is someone who cuts hair. As you can see, he doesn’t just cut anyone’s hair; he cuts monsters hair. Why do you think monsters need haircuts? [Children respond]. Let’s read to see if we can figure out why Even Monsters Need Haircuts and why the boy decided to be a barber.First I wanted to engage the readers. A book about monsters can be engaging enough, but this is more about a boy than a monster. So I wanted to draw attention to action in the illustration. Since the book is about a little boy who is a barber, I wanted to discuss what a barber is and how this barber is different. The cover helps show what to expect from the story. It shows the main action of the book and helps build a good characteristic of the main character. I then left off with raising questions in the listeners’ mind. The book never really tells us why monsters need haircuts, but having the children visualize a monster and think about why they would need a haircut helps them draw conclusions to the title. Also, they can compare the kind of haircut their monster would need to the types described in the story. It also builds a connection for the children between the character and the monsters.
This text anchored a lesson on perimeter that we used in math. Great fun.
—cursive20
Funny! Plenty of illustrative details to keep the older kids engaged.
—Asi
A great, humorous read aloud! Perfect for Halloween or monsters theme.
—alohomora
Good book to read-aloud for Halloween. Nice illustrations.
—b00kaholic
Very nice read. Kids enjoyed this.
—keia03
