The Really, Really Bad Book of Monster Jokes
written by Teri Sloat, illustrated by Mike Wright
Candlewick

About the Book

My part of this book was writing jokes about some of my favorite things—scary grizzly ideas.

But the book is packed with hysterical illustrations by Mike Wright. Sometimes I go back and look at the pictures again just to see what I've missed before. The book is packed, and where on earth (or is it somewhere else) does he get his ideas for his pictures? And then, how does he have the patience to put it all down on paper? He is what I call a generous artist!

Teacher Activities

Here are some fun things to do with the spooky jokes:

• Choose a spread from the book, like “Haunted Humor”, which is a haunted house, as is “Ghostly Giggles”, and make your own jokes that use a similiar vocabulary for a bulletin board in class. Use words, such as: poltergeist, fright, soul, haunted, scare, skeleton, bone-chilling, witch, presence, eerie, ghost, dead.
• Divide the students into small groups and make up some new topics. How about “Halloween Sports”? For example, the students can make up words that sound similiar to basketball, like casketball, or come up with words that sound like soccer, like shocker!
• Students can also make up a new topic like “Monster Music”: soul music, mummies doing ragtime, and the rhythm and boos.