"Fluffy's Happy Halloween" - This Is One Guinea Pig That Knows How To Party!
Written: Apr 25 '05 (Updated Nov 12 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fantastically adorable story, a must have for cavy lovers, great illustrations.
Cons: None!
The Bottom Line: Fluffy is more than just a "classroom guinea pig"; in this book he's Count Fluffula, Peg Leg Fluffy, Mummy Fluffy and "The Pumpkin of Doom"!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Kate McMullan - Fluffy's Happy Halloween |
I have to thank a fellow guinea pig lover for getting me this book; he is a dedicated veterinarian that has a soft spot for these little fluffy bundles of joy and at any given time you can find at least five or six of them scurrying around his office, merrily squeaking away and using the “Guinea Pig crossing” sign on the doorway to their full advantage. He also knows that I am a huge fan of anything Halloween related so imagine my surprise when he handed me this book – Halloween and guinea pigs … it seems like it was written just for me. In reality, this is part of the “Hello Readers!” series of books created to get kids into reading on their own. This particular book is for the first and second graders or kids ages six through eight. Remember, every child is different so these are just suggested ages. Take a gander at the book and give it a read to see if it would be something that your child would be interested in.
Fluffy’s Happy Halloween
The book is broken into three easy to read chapters; each of them shows Fluffy in some pretty hysterical scenes that all revolve around Halloween. The first chapter introduces you to Fluffy although I’m not sure if this is the only book that he appears in, I am definitely planning on looking at the rest of the series to see if there are any more with this cute piggie. The kids in Ms Day’s class are getting ready for the big Halloween parade and everyone has a costume except Fluffy. The kids try to think up costumes for him and come up with some cool ideas; a pirate, alien space pig and even a mummy. Fluffy cringes when Emma suggests that she put a diaper on him and that he go to the parade as a baby. Necessity being the mother of invention, Fluffy creates his own costume by pure accident. When he is hiding under a lettuce leaf and starts gnawing on old carrots everyone thinks he is missing. When they call his name he pops up and viola – he’s Count Fluffula!
Chapter two is entitled, “Fluffy And The Pumpkin of Doom!” and rightly so! Mr. Lee’s class invites Ms. Day’s class to their spook house and Fluffy tags along with Wade. Fluffy is never scared or at least that is what he keeps telling himself throughout the entire book. Jared is dressed up as Wolf Boy and offers Wade a pair of fake teeth to try out but he leaves poor Fluffy on the table while he’s doing so. Even then, Fluffy isn’t scared. Being a typical guinea pig, Fluffy gets bored and tries to get out of the spook house. He walks around the corner to be greeted by a ghost that does scare him .. well, just a little. When the scarf is pulled off Fluffy sees that it’s Kiss, a little girl guinea pig from Mr. Lee’s class. She doesn’t let Fluffy live down the fact that she scared him so he decides to get some revenge. He hops into a jack-o-lantern and when Kiss comes around the corner, still laughing, he scares her to pieces.
The last story is one of the cutest and if you have ever owned a guinea pig you’ll understand why when you hit the last page. Wade takes Fluffy to Jasmines house for the big Halloween party. All the kids are there and everyone is having a lot of fun in the “monster lab”. Spooky body parts are squeezed, Jasmine mixes up a glass of blood and poor Fluffy is afraid he is going to lose his lunch. When the costume contest rolls around Wade leaves Fluffy on the table where he starts eyeing up the monster eyeballs. Curious, as most piggies are, he gives them a sniff. They aren’t eyeballs! They are grapes! When Wade returns for him he doesn’t notice that they eyeballs are missing but Jasmine does. She asks her brother what happened to them but no one seems to know. The last page shows one very satisfied looking guinea pig laying on the table. Yeap, you guessed it, Fluffy had a little snack while everyone was at the costume contest. Typical piggie, can’t pass up some fruit.
My Take
Even if this book sucked, I couldn’t trash it because it’s about a guinea pig and Halloween. With that being said, the book is great and a must read for any kid that likes piggies or is a fan of Halloween. This is targeted for first and second graders and is pretty easy to read. Kids might have some trouble with the names that are used in the book [Jasmine, Jared, Wade, Lina] but that’s all a part of learning. I read this in about ten minutes because I kept stopping to look at the illustrations, most kids would be able to complete this in about fifteen to twenty minutes. The book isn’t scary in the least; even the images of the kids dressed up at the party or feeling the monster parts are all light and funny. No doubt this will be one that Annabelle will want to read over and over this coming Halloween, she’s an animal lover and gets a kick out of all the Halloween kid books I’ve collected over the years.
The Bottom Line
I haven’t had a chance to check out the other books in the series but if they are as entertaining and as educational as this one I am sure I’ll be getting them for Annabelle. She has really started to enjoy reading on her own and has picked up some of the reading habits of the boys – mostly digging into a book and not letting go of it until she’s read it from cover to cover. The text is easy to read and the illustrations by Mavis Smith really add a lot to the story. If you like Halloween, love guinea pigs or just want to have something seasonal on hand to entertain kids, this is a great pick. This is also nice for teachers, parents and caregivers to have around for some light reading for the younger crowd.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
Other enchanting Halloween books for kids …
The Halloween Book
Crafts For Halloween
Aunt Eaters Mystery Halloween
Minnie And Moo Meet Frankenswine
The Halloween House
Spooky America
Let’s Celebrate Halloween
The Hallo-Wiener
Halloween Night on Shivermore Street
Recommended:
Yes
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