[Monday Reading] Southern Ghosts and love for New Orleans

Myra here.

It’s Monday, What are You Reading is a meme hosted by Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers (brainchild of Sheila at BookJourney). Since two of our friends, Linda from Teacher Dance and Tara from A Teaching Life have been joining this meme for quite awhile now, we thought of joining this warm and inviting community.

Last Week’s Review and Miscellany Posts

Here are a few of the reviews we have done last week. We are also inviting everyone to join our Award-Winning-Books Reading Challenge. We hosted the AWB Challenge last year and we are thrilled to be able to host it again. Do sign up if you are looking for exciting reading challenges with monthly book prizes. Click on the titles/images below to be taken to our blog posts.

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https://gatheringbooks.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/photo-journal-a-z-photo-story-challenge-o-is-for-oldtown-bratislava/

https://gatheringbooks.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/hungry-ghosts-and-their-victuals-in-bone-soup-and-ghosts-for-breakfast/

https://gatheringbooks.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/hungry-ghosts-and-their-victuals-in-bone-soup-and-ghosts-for-breakfast/

https://gatheringbooks.wordpress.com/2013/10/13/bhe-74-more-book-purchases-from-bras-basah/

Click on the image to be taken to the websource.

Artwork by Justin Hillgrove. Click on the image to be taken to the websource.

I have also written a post about my thoughts on the Accelerated Reader Program.

I am inviting fellow teachers, teacher educators, writers, librarians, authors, artists, parents, fellow book enthusiasts to share their own experiences and ideas about the AR program.

Does the Accelerated Reader Program help develop Lifelong Readers?

I am pleased to find more ghost-related books from the library that I am excited to share with you today. And since I fell in love with New Orleans, I thought I might as well feature a sub-theme about Southern ghosts.

The Hungry Ghost of Rue Orleans

Story By: Mary Quattlebaum
Illustrated by: Patricia Castelao
Published by: Random House, 2011. Borrowed from the library. Book photos taken by me.

Fred the Ghost is terribly upset. His squeaky old house with all its comforting leaks and creaking floors has been occupied by Pierre and his daughter Marie. The new owners transformed Fred’s home to a restaurant of all things! And they cleaned and scrubbed and transformed the entire place to a vibrant restaurant with a busy oven, the smell of spices, and chopping and whisking noises. Fred could not stand it.

I could sense Fred’s frustration whenever he would holler “My house!” to Pierre’s happy and excited proclamations about his new restaurant. And so during the grand opening, Fred the Ghost made sure that he made his presence felt. However, rather than being turned off, the diners, particularly Conti, the Food Critic, actually enjoyed it and thought of it as a unique show that made the restaurant even more distinctive!

With a heavy heart, Fred decided that he needed to find a new home. The restaurant does not feel like his old place any longer. Whether Marie, the young girl, was able to woo Fred the Ghost back to his old home, I shall leave for you to discover. Suffice it to say that powdered ghost puffs played a huge role in this picture book. The Author’s Note shows that the puff is actually inspired by New Orleans’ luscious beignets. Here are a few photographs I have taken from Cafe du Monde in New Orleans: beignets! Perfect with coffee.

For teachers who wish to use this in the classroom, the author Mary Quattlebaum has a few recommended writing and cooking activities in her website.

The Boy and the Ghost

Story By: Robert D. San Souci
Illustrated by: J. Brian Pinkney
Published by: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1989. Borrowed from the library. Book photos taken by me.

Thomas and his family lived down south in a little backcountry farm. He was the middle son in a family of seven siblings so there was barely enough food to eat every day. Thomas hated to see his parents struggling and working so hard for so little, and his siblings wide-eyed with hunger. And so he decided to go to the city to earn more money to help support his family. He seemed like a level-headed, goal-directed, courageous boy who showed spunk, grit, and initiative.

Armed with nothing but a croacker-sack to carry a box of matches, a pot and a hambone to make soup, he set out on his life’s journey. On the way to the city, he came upon a poor man who asked for a taste of Thomas’ soup. Being a kind and generous soul, he offered what is remaining from the pot to the raggedy old man who then told him about a haunted old house with a hidden treasure. Anyone who is able to stay in the place from sunset to sunrise is said to get the house and the treasure found in it.

Right then and there, Thomas decided that he would visit this haunted old mansion for himself to get the treasure for his family. Whether or not he succeeded, I shall leave for you to discover. The author Robert San Souci mentioned in his Author’s Note found at the back of the book that the story is actually an “echo” of much older tales that may now be considered as part of “world folk literature.” He further explained:

Very likely, the tale of a hero and a ghost who appears a little at a time traveled from the Old World to the New with colonists and immigrants, and was handed down (as good stories are) as a legacy to sons and daughters growing up under very different circumstances. As they, in turn, shared it with new listeners in a new land, the haunted European castle was changed to a haunted plantation house in the American South, and the brash Spanish tinker became a brave little boy. Gradually, the story took on a fresh new feel and became part of American folk literature.

A Gallery of Photographs from New Orleans

I visited this Southern State a few years back and immediately fell in love with the place. Not sure whether it was the beignet, the music, the Cajun/Creole food, the people, the European vibe, the True Blood feel of the place.. it’s clear though that I simply love it. I do hope to visit again soon. Here are some photos taken around New Orleans.

https://gatheringbooks.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/photo-journala-z-photo-story-challenge-n-is-for-new-orleans/

Enjoying the cool air.

And yet another one.

Just look at that building – exquisite.

Enjoying the jambalaya rice, muffuletta, and gumbo!

Currently Reading…

I just finished reading The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket by John Boyne and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers for a new book club that we are having here in Singapore (an adult book club).

We are calling our book club SNOB-G: Saturday Night Out for Book Geeks. This is our October book of the month. It’s slow reading in the beginning, but it picks up somewhere in the middle, and turns into a multi-varied shade of amazing. Have you read this book yet? Any thoughts about it?

Read-a-Latte Challenge Update:  207, 208 (150)

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