Teaching Guide Written by author, Joan Carris, this Guide is targeted for grades 4-8. Teachers, media specialists, librarians, and homeschoolers are encouraged to download the Guide. Joan Carris welcomes your comments, and you can send your comments by activating Contact Us on our Homepage. Aunt Morbelia And The Screaming Skulls lists for $14.95, hardcover (ISBN: 0-316-12945-3), paperback $2.99 (ISBN: 0671747843) recorded books $24.00 (ISBN: ). To order the book use the on-line order forn or call Children's Literature at 1-800 469 2070.
SUMMARY:
Todd Fearing's life, already complicated by dyslexia, becomes even more complex after his eccentric seventy year-old great aunt moves in. A lifelong teacher, Aunt Morbelia is intrigued by Todd's dyslexia, though her preoccupation with dark omens and ghost stories is the last thing that Todd needs. When he and his friend Jeff decide to go haunting themselves, they set off a chain of nearly disastrous events. Luckily, Aunt Morbelia and Todd know how to compromise.
Themes:
Persistence pays--especially in education!
Sharing your home with an elderly relative can be a great experience.
Reviews:
* "A very funny and touching story about a loving family that takes in an elderly relative obsessed with evil omens and bad luck.... Aunt Morbelia is just eccentric enough to be believable, Todd's feelings about his learning disability ring true, and the whole comes together as an engaging, entertaining, and rewarding experience."
School Library Journal, (starred review)
"This appealing middle-grade novel delivers not only the light shivers and laughs promised by the title and dustjacket art, but also some gentle messages about the problems of the elderly and the learning disabled.... Good, prankish fun."
Booklist
"This humorous book is one for teachers to read aloud, especially if the classroom contains students with dyslexia."
Library Talk
EDUCATIONAL GOALS (Grades 4-8)
- Provide an enjoyable reading experience that demonstrates how plot (the story) is the result of character.
- Offer accurate, up-to-date information about dyslexia and how dyslexic students learn.
- Contrast belief / superstition with reality.
PRE-READING:
Read the first chapter or two to the class to arouse curiosity about Todd's double predicament. Discuss the class's conceptions about learning disabilities.
Using This Guide:
Be selective. Choose only those activities or discussion topics which best suit your class. Even the finest literature dies when over-analyzed.
ACROSS THE CURRICULA:
SCIENCE:
- Although educators were baffled for decades by dyslexia, we now know that it originates in the brain. Compare pictures of normal brains to dyslexic brains by examining college texts to see the clearly visible differences.
- In the story, Todd must "learn how to learn." Discuss learning differences: visual vs. auditory learners; morning folks and night folks; solitary vs. group learners, etc.
- Humans are altricial beings; snakes, turtles (et. al.) are precocial. Discuss this most basic contrast in learning.
- Invite special-ed teachers to discuss current information that helps people overcome learning problems.
MATH:
- Learning differences are costly. How much is a year's tuition in remedial school? The salary of an LD teacher?
- Discuss the social costs of not helping the learning disabled: anger that leads to crime, lower lifetime wages, permanent low self-esteem, etc. What is the cost of keeping someone in jail for a year vs. in college for a year?
LANGUAGE ARTS:
- Etymology: Check the origins of the word dyslexia and dyscalculia, its less-known mate. The root mor/mort means death; relatives include morbid, moribund, mortuary, and mortician. Aunt Morbelia's name was created on purpose. (Remember the TV character Morticia? Latina vivit!)
- Role-playing: Assign parts for reading aloud, e.g. Chap. 8 or Chap. 5, nearly all dialogue.
- This is a novel of character. How does dialogue reveal character? What actions of main characters reveal their personalities?
- Speech: On any relevant topic (e.g., cleaning one's room), have students give brief talks from different characters' points of view: Aunt Morbelia, Todd, Rocky.
- Writing: How about some original ghost stories? Or make a class collection of superstitions. How many old beliefs survive today?
Quotations for Discussion:
- "I live in one world, you live in another." (p. 19)
- "...what people believe shapes their lives." (p. 33)
- "Why should you [Todd] have dyslexia? Is that fair?" (p. 50), and from p. 79, "Life is not fair. No one ever promised that it would be."
- Why would Miss King say to Todd, "Just stay fighting mad"? (p. 64)
- "Nothing hangs on like a good superstition." (p. 69)
- "She [Aunt M] didn't slip into place like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle." (p. 124)
- "I cried many happy tears today." (p. 131)
How This Book Came To Be Written:
"At first, I wanted to write a funny book about ghosts and weird superstitions. But on page one of the manuscript, Todd said he had trouble remembering things. Right then, I knew this boy inside out. I've known dozens like him in my teaching career--kids who struggled with material that's easy for most of us. Yet they're often smarter than average, and boy, are they memorable. This book stands as a tiny memorial to them and to their teachers."
More Joan Carris books:
Howling for Home
Stolen Bones
Beware The Ravens, Aunt Morbelia
Just A Little Ham
A Ghost Of A Chance
Witch-Cat (A CBS Story Hour Special)
The Greatest Idea Ever
Rusty Timmons' First Million
Hedgehogs In The Closet
Pets, Vets, And Marty Howard
The Revolt Of 10-X
When The Boys Ran The House
Textbooks
SAT Success (with CD-ROM)
Success With Words
SAT Word Flash
Panic Plan for SATs---all from Peterson's
Click here for Author Interview
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