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speech and language teaching concepts for The Good the Bad and the Spooky in speech therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/s/ initial “seed”
/k/ initial “costume”
/st/ medial “costume” and “Mr.”

Themes:

Halloween
character growth

Book Details:
Diverse Characters: N/A
Age Recommendation: Elementary, Late Elementary

The Good, the Bad, and the Spooky

By Jory John

Halloween is the Bad Seed’s favorite holiday of the year. But what’s a seed to do when he can’t find a show-stopping costume for the big night? Postpone trick-or-treating for everyone, of course! Can he get a costume together in time? Or will this seed return to his baaaaaaaaad ways? Find out in this hilarious, charming, and thought-provoking continuation of Jory John and Pete Oswald’s bestselling Food Group series.

This Halloween-themed picture book can be used in speech therapy to address social/emotional issues like being selfish and the importance of togethernessIt is also great for noticing text features and observing character growthDiscover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using The Good, the Bad, and the Spooky in speech therapy below: 

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complex episode

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary
theme/message
problem solving
character analysis
illustration study
social/emotional
text features

Sequencing:

order of costumes that Mr. Seed tried

Vocabulary:

travesty, crummy, promise, uninspiring, impossible, original, memories, outdress, independent, postponed, mood, mission, relief

Character Analysis:

Mr. Seed is in a bad mood because he doesn’t have a Halloween costume yet. He wants to have the best costume, but keeps comparing his ideas with what other seeds are wearing. He decides that if he can’t think of an awesome costume, then he will trick everyone into postponing Halloween. He later learns that Halloween is about spending time with friends and enjoying the weather rather than being the best. Mr. Seed then creates a clever, but simple costume and spends time with his friends.

Social/Emotional:

notice facial expressions
selfish
comparing with others
tricking others
spending time with friends
wanting to be the best

Why is Mr. Seed in a bad mood?
How does the pumpkin seed help Mr. Seed?

Figurative Language:

pun (“cracking up all night”)
idioms (“time marched on” “gave it my best shot”)

Text Features:

change in font
change in font size and color
ellipsis
exclamation points
speech bubbles
italics
ALL CAPS

Problem Solving:

Mr. Seed can’t decide on a Halloween costume, so he decides to trick everyone into postponing Halloween. After he realizes that “togetherness” is more important than having the best costume, Mr. Seed has to undo his trick to resume Halloween activities. He also decides on a costume.

If you are interested in seeing other Halloween-themed books to use in therapy, then check out the Seasonal Narrative Teaching Points Book List for a printable copy.