Shy Mama's Halloween

Shy Mama's Halloween

Authors

Anne Broyles

Illustrator

Leane Morin

Publisher

Tilbury House Pub

Publication Year

2000

ISBN

9780884482185

Pages

40 pages

Genre

realism

Format

picture book

Item Type

Fiction

Annotation

For Anya, Dasha, Irina, and Dimitrii, newly arrived to this country, Halloween seems a wonderfully strange and exciting holiday. They enlist Mrs. Rumanski and her midnight-blue Singer sewing machine in the apartment downstairs to help with their costumes, and Papa agrees to take them out trick-or-treating. But Papa comes home sick that evening, and it looks as though the children will be watching the trick or treating from the upstairs window. Mama, who is frightened by so much in this new country, especially the thought of ghosts and goblins on the streets, surprises them all when she rises to the occasion and takes her young princess, witch, devil, and clown down the stairs and out into the night. As they go from house to house, they find that everyone along the street is friendly. No one seems to care that their "Thank yous" are said with an accent, or that Mama, in her babushka, can speak only a few words of English. For Anya, Dasha, Irina, and Dimitrii, it is their first sense of belonging in their new country, of savoring the fun and magic of Halloween and the generosity of strangers. For Mama, it is a much greater step out into a new world, led by her children.

Grade Level

PK-1; K-3

Lexile Measure

AD780L

Diversity Topics

Family Relationships; Culture/Ethnicity; Language barrier; Bicultural; Bilingual; Immigrants and refugees; different languages; bicultural family; bilingual family; immigrant family; immigrant children; immigrant parents

Main Character

female teenager

Race/Ethnicities

White (Russian)

Family Formation

mother and father

Awards

Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, 2001 History, Life and Culture in the Americas
Teachers' Choice Award for Children's Books, 2002, Winner

Keywords

Russia; Halloween; costumes; treats; princess; clown; shyness; babushka; fear; sick

Diversity Impact

direct

Shy Mama's Halloween

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