Cambria Evans

Finnigin is always hungry. He visits town after town taking with him only an eating stool, an eating spoon, and his gigantic eating mouth. When Finnigin arrives in a new town on Halloween, all the other creatures avoid him.

Finnigin's infamous appetite has preceded him. Just what is a hungry skeleton to do? With only his spoon, the town's largest cauldron, and a magic ingredient, Finnigin comes up with a plan to whip up an amazing Halloween feast.

The Bottom Line: This Halloween-themed take on the classic story, Stone Soup, is a real winner. Kids will delight in the disgusting ingredients as they learn about sharing, and the author's charming, but creepy, illustrations are perfect with the story. Highly recommended for story time reading for children in grades K – 3.

This review also appears at the Mini Book Bytes Book Review Blog.… (meer)

Summary: A young skeleton named Finnigin has a huge appetite. He travels to a new town for a Halloween feast, but none of the goblins, werewolves, or witches will share their food with him. He begins to make soup out of an old magic bone, and all of the curious creatures come to investigate. Finnigin eventually coaxes the creatures to add their food to the pot, and they end up enjoying a feast together.

Personal reaction: I loved this book. It shows that when we all contribute and help each other, we can make something amazing that we can all enjoy.

Classroom extensions:
1. It may be fun to have children in the classroom help make cookies, with each one bringing an ingredient that will improve the recipe.
2. We could discuss all of the unique qualities that kids possess, and how each quality makes the classroom more interesting.… (meer)