Happy Halloween, May It R.I.P. V

Somehow, I was able to complete Madame Bovary, Part 1 of A Void, and Peril the First for Carl's R.I.P.V this month, along with preparing report cards, conference notes for next week, and keeping the lid on 26 eight year olds who are beyond excited about Halloween. Thank goodness it doesn't come during a school night this year!

The requirement for the first peril was to read four books for the challenge; I read:

1. Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
2. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
3. Nighttime Too Afraid to Scream by Todd Stasser
4. The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski
5. The Tales of Beedle The Bard by J. K. Rowling

Nighttime Too Afraid to Scream and The Tales of Beedle The Bard were read-alouds to my class. The later was a bit grim for third graders, in my opinion, but I wanted them to hear some compelling short stories and to be aware that J. K. Rowling is not confined to only Harry Potter. Nighttime Too Afraid To Scream was a book that I liked as much as they did. It had stories with a clever twist, and often a lesson, like "The Phantom Phone" which texted messages such as, "Don't Lie" when it's owner did.

But, my all time favorite was The Victorian Chaise-Longue. That book truly creeped me out, in a way I'll never forget. It will literally haunt me for quite some time to come, especially when I lay down for a nap and wonder, "What if I wake up somewhere else? Someone else?" It's not a major worry, mind you, just a nagging, autumnal thought.

Carl, we've come a long way from your first R.I.P. I thank you so much for this, your fifth, because now I have been introduced to more authors I want to read in the year to come: Shirley Jackson, Sarah Waters and Robert Louis Stevenson to name a few.