"Abiyoyo" and "Do Not Open"

My son as a preschooler found these books so frightening that not only would he not allow me to read them to him, he wanted them banished from the house! I never considered them scary at all, and they are definitely a hit with older children. The characters are everything in these tales, and they lend themselves to teaching children to make connections between texts, an essential comprehension strategy. "Abiyoyo" has a song that is part of the story, which I sort of make up as I go along, but having a recording of it would enhance the telling. "Do Not Open" brings a child's fear of monsters to life, but in the end the monster is overcome by a woman's cleverness. If my son had ever let me read the whole book to him, he may have felt better about his chances against scary monsters.

Abiyoyo
by Pete Seeger
Illustrated by Michael Hays
The folk singer Pete Seeger wrote this story-song based on a South African story and lullaby. The main characters are a young boy who plays the ukulele and his father who has a magic wand that makes objects disappear. The townspeople become weary of the constant strumming of the ukulele and of things disappearing all the time. The bay and his father are ostracized by the townspeople until they prove how valuable their talents are in vanquishing the local monster, Abiyoyo. The story became so popular that Pete Seeger wrote a sequel, "Abiyoyo Returns"with another author, Paul DuBois Jacobs, also illustrated by Michael Hays.


Do Not Open
by Brinton Turkle
Although this book is only available used, you may find it in your library as well. The morning after a storm, Miss Moody and her cat find a mysterious bottle on the beach near their home. On it is a note that says "Do Not Open". Of course, the bottle is opened in exchange for a wish, and an evil monster emerges. Miss Moody outwits him by refusing to believe in him and convinces him that she is only afraid of mice. The monster turns himself into a mouse in order to intimidate her, but the cat catches him and eats him. Miss Moody and the cat return home to find that the wish she was promised was granted after all.



Story Props for the Abiyoyo books and "Do Not Open"