Martha Speaks: Campfire Stories (Chapter Book) - Softcover

Meddaugh, Susan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0547970218 ISBN 13: 9780547970219

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers, 2013

Synopsis

Nothing turns a backyard camp-out from yawn to "Yowza!" like a few scary stories. When their repertoire of shadow puppets is exhausted, Martha (the talking dog from PBS’s hit TV showMartha Speaks)and her friends decide to share some science-fiction stories—the creepier the better! Martha tells one about aliens from Venus who eat frozen yogurt with their ears, T.D. scares everyone with malevolent alien cat people, Helen tells "The Telltale Artichoke Heart" about a disturbing tin can ("THUMP. THUMP. THUMP"), and Alice tells "Night of the Phantom Scarecrow." A few Campfire Story Starters will have aspiring storytellers off and running!

About this title

About the Author:

Susan Meddaugh was born and raised in Montclair, New Jersey. She graduated from Wheaton College, where she studied French literature and fine arts. After working briefly with an advertising agency in New York, she moved to Boston and worked at a publishing company for ten years, first as a designer, then art editor, and finally as art director. While there, she did the illustrations for Good Stones (Houghton Mifflin) by Anne Epstein, and then decided to strike out on her own as a freelance illustrator and creator of children's books. Since that time, Susan has written and illustrated many popular books for children, including Martha Speaks, which was chosen as a New York Times Best Illustrated Book for 1992. In 1998 she was awarded the New England Book Award, given by the New England Booksellers Association to recognize a body of work. Her work also was acknowledged with a New York Times Best Illustrated Award. She lives in Sherborn, Massachusetts.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 1-3-Martha the talking dog is back. Both books contain easy-to-read chapters that work as stand-alone tales. In Stories, the gang camps out in the backyard and decides to tell science-fiction stories. The characters relay quirky and entertaining plots that range from invading aliens to a nod to Poe with "The Telltale Artichoke Heart." In the first story in Dog, Helen's cousin turns into a collie. As with most body-swapping scenarios, each character comes away with a new appreciation of the other's life. The second story is all about T.D.'s idea to pretend to be a dog for a day. Of course, he finds out that being a canine is not as easy as it seems. Because of the bold, colorful illustrations, familiarity of the characters, and readability of the texts, these titles should prove to be a big hit with the beginning-reader crowd. Activities suggestions add to the appeal. Some of the vocabulary may prove to be challenging, but new words are repeated often and used in context throughout the short chapters. Good choices for Martha's many followers.-Jasmine L. Precopio, Fox Chapel Area School District, Pittsburgh, PAα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0547970218
• ISBN 13: 9780547970219
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 89