Skelly’s Halloween Book Review Plus 5 FREE Skeleton Printables

Inside: Book review of Skelly’s Halloween and related book activities

Skelly’s HalloweenWritten by David Martin
Illustrated by Lori Richmond
Henry Holt and Co., 2018
Ages 4-8
Halloween, Skeletons

Brief Synopsis:

This is a charming story about Skelly Bones Skeleton, a skeleon who absolutely adores Halloween and can hardly wait to go trick-or-treating. But after a tumble he finds himself in pieces. A snake, some ants, and a chicken all try to put him back together without success. Happily for Skelly, a trio of cute trick-or-treaters help get him back on track.

Opening:

“Snap my fingers and rattle my bones — it’s Halloween!” said Skelly Bones Skeleton. And he danced around the room singing, “Head and shoulders, knees and toes. Trick-or-treating, here we goes!”

Why I Like This Book:

I love the simplicity and vividness of the illustrations. I also enjoyed Skelly’s excitement about trick-or-treating — it took me right back to my own childhood and the wild and crazy anticipation I always felt.

I thought it was clever of Martin to have the helping animals put Skelly together in their own likenesses and I think young children will find that part pretty funny (or maybe weird?). Either way, it’s interesting.

The story just has a very feel-good vibe to it, with lots of helpful and cooperative characters.

I think it’s perfect for Kindergarten to Grade 2 students!

But even younger children might like it, too.  I gave the book to my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter and her big brother and she had me read it to her FOUR times in a row. She loved it!!

Related Activities:

My best recommendations for extensions and related activities are the ones I linked to in a previous review of Skelly the Skeleton Girl

If you go over there you’ll find:

1. Dancing Skeleton Q-tip Art
2. Color-With-Leo Skeleton Puppet
3. Sugar Skull coloring page (made by me)
4. A little skeleton writing book (also by me)

But wait! There’s more!

I have a super cute cut ‘n paste skeleton freebie, too. Poor Skelly is all in pieces and needs to be put back together.  Just print, cut out the pieces and glue them onto some coloured paper for your very own Skelly Bones Skeleton.

Click on either image or right here to grab your pdf.

My six-year-old grandson and I cut out out the skeleton bones and glued it onto some paper. It worked best when we cut around the bones and didn’t worry too much about cutting on the lines, especially with the feet and hands!

If you’re looking for some skeleton clip art for your own projects, you might like these sugar skulls I made! Click the image to see them on TpT.

I’m linking up with Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Friday where you can find more awesome picture book recommendations

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