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On Halloween Night

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A cumulative rhyme and charming pictures bring Emily's excitement to life as she decides what costume to wear and prepares to get dressed for Halloween. Original.

24 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

28 people want to read

About the author

Harriet Ziefert

686 books56 followers
Harriet Ziefert grew up in North Bergen, New Jersey, where she attended the local schools. She graduated from Smith College, then received a Masters degree in Education from New York University.

For many years, Ziefert was an elementary school teacher. She taught most grades from kindergarten to fifth grade. "I liked it," she said, but she stopped teaching when she had her own sons. When her children were older, Ziefert wanted "a bigger arena" for her work. She went to work at a publishing company, Scholastic in New York City, developing materials for teacher's guides for kindergarten language arts and social studies programs.

"About twelve years ago," says Ziefert in a 1995 interview, "I tried to get a job as an editor, but no one would hire me as a trade editor. So I decided to write my own books." Since then, she has written several hundred books, mostly picture books and easy-to-read books. "I write books very quickly," she says, "in about twelve hours. I rewrite them three times over three days, and then they're done." She writes about twenty books a year.

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
30 reviews
September 9, 2018
Summary:
In On Halloween Night , it is a story about a girl named Emily who is getting ready to out. Her grandma and grandpa help dress her in a witch costume piece by piece, and in the end, Emily’s costume is complete and she’s ready to go trick-or-treating.

Evaluation:
I found this book to be interesting and not one that I would typically pick up. However, I saw the benefit of the repetition of the words in the book. Each time Emily would put on a new piece, each sentence would be spoken again, and each item of clothing would be restated. I think this is a good idea to use in the theme of Halloween in that it captivates the reader.

Teaching Idea:
In On Halloween Night , the use of sequencing is a beneficial tool towards helping a student sequence what happened. Students could even use the 5-finger retell when recalling the story and events. As an activity, students could learn about retelling and then the teacher could use printed off pictures to show what happens in the story. The teacher could have the students work in groups with their own set of printed pieces. The students could practice retelling and use the pieces to help them with telling what happened first, next, then, after that, and finally. I would recommend using this in first grade through third grade ELA or Social Studies classes.
Profile Image for Molly Cluff (Library!).
2,492 reviews50 followers
August 22, 2018
This is one of those stories that builds upon itself line by line (in this case it's all the different pieces of a girl's halloween costume). Could be fun to have kids come up wearing each individual item from the costume since that bit repeats every page.
Profile Image for Slayermel.
906 reviews36 followers
October 28, 2018
This book follows Emily putting her costume together to go trick or treating.
It has a repetitive flow to the story similar to the old lady who swallowed a fly.
My daughter seemed to enjoy watching her add on all the parts to her costume, page by page.
Profile Image for Christy Roberts.
1,545 reviews50 followers
December 10, 2021
This would be enjoyable more if I was younger probably. I loved the pictures in this book. I liked most of it just wasn't fond of the words repeating every time Emily got something new to go with what she was wearing already
Profile Image for Elle.
1,972 reviews
November 16, 2014
Emily's costume is introduced to readers one item at a time. Then, her trick or treating trip is told focusing on individual items. This would be a great book to teach sequencing and sorting (which items belong with her costume and with trick or treating - readers will have to pay attention to identify not obvious ones such as the snake). Ziefert's creative adjectives for the items also incorporate nontraditional rhyming pairs.
Profile Image for Susan.
Author 2 books7 followers
June 20, 2008
A cumulative story about dressing up to go out Trick or Treating that captures the excitement of getting ready for the big night - a good choice when you need a non-scary book for the younger set, The lively illustrations by Renee Andriani add to the fun.
Profile Image for Adrianne Rosal.
1,477 reviews10 followers
October 14, 2015
Very cute story. Some of my group realized that this book reminds them of The Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly.The students really enjoyed the story!!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews

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