Third Grade Ghouls

Third Grade #2

by Colleen O'Shaughnessy McKenna, Stephanie Roth (Illustrator)

Third grader Gordie worries about coming up with a scary costume for the school Halloween parade and about having to take care of a timid younger boy.

Genres: Halloween

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

A former elementary school teacher, Colleen O'Shaughnessy McKenna lives in Pittsburgh with her family. She is best known for her Murphy series, based on her own family.

Reviews

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun story about standing up for yourself but also helping others, too. The story centers around a young boy named Gordie who is more than a bit apprehensive about what his Halloween costume should be and walking in the school costume parade.

The narrative is simple for children who are beginning to read chapter books and is great for third graders, as they can empathize with being in the middle. Too young to stand up completely to a mean fifth grader, but old enough to take care of and look out for the first graders.

As our girls are in first and third grade, I thought it would be a great story to read aloud. Our youngest thought that the first grader, Timmy, was being a bit too babyish (after all, she is a big girl, not a Kindergartener!) But overall, we enjoyed reading the story together.