Maybelle and the Haunted Cupcake

Maybelle and the Haunted Cupcake
by Katie Speck
illustrated by Paul Rátz de Tagyos
Henry Holt, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

Ever since I fell in love with Archy and Mehitabel in high school, I have been a sucker for cockroaches in literature. I even kept Madagascar Hissing Roaches as classroom pets for a lot of years.

So of course, I love Maybelle the Cockroach! Maybelle has a friend who is a flea, and in this book, Bernice, a picnic ant with a bad head cold that prevents her from smelling her way home shows up. Bernice is used to serving her Queen, and Maybelle thinks it sounds great to be served. But she soon learns to be careful what you wish for. Bernice causes more problems than she's worth, but she does convince Mr. and Mrs. Peabody that Mrs. Peabody's mini cupcakes are haunted.

This is an entertaining 58-page easy reader with two other books in the series. I'm thinking Maybelle will be popular as a quick read in my classroom!

Your Character's Playlist

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by rifqi dahlgren

OUTA MY WAY

I'm an ant.

My eyes are big,

my joints are orange,

my bite means business.

I have work to do.

You're in my way. 

I'm warning you --

my bite means business.

You better move.
I'm just one.
A hundred-hundred more
are following.

And we mean business.

Music this ant hums as he marches along (with his hundred-hundred comrades): March of the Defenders of Moscow, sung by the Red Army Choir.

And yet, after a day of marching, there's nothing this ant likes better than to kick back, relax, and tap into his creative side. He invites his friends to pose for portraits in his photo studio. Then he composes his own music and he posts his photo/music montages on YouTube, in the hopes that he will increase appreciation for the Formicidae family.

All business by day, all arts by night, this is one multi-faceted ant (and we're not just talking about his eyes, folks!!).

* * * * * * *

What on earth is this crazy post doing here? It's my response to the Tuesday Quick-Write for Teachers Write! Summer Writing Camp. I didn't really follow the rules very well. (What did you expect?!?) But I had fun getting into the head of this ant.