Sam's First Halloween

by Mary Labatt

Sam comes up with a trick to get herself a Halloween treat! This Level 1 first reader contains short stories, simple sentences, easy vocabulary, simple visual clues and lots of repetition.

Genres: Halloween, Dogs, Childrens, Picture Books

32 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2003

About the author

Mary Labatt is an award-winning editor and a writer. A graduate of York University, Mary has published many educational briefs, position papers and articles on reading, the effects of poverty on learning, drug awareness, language arts, violence, the needs of adolescents and special education. Mary was the founding editor of the FWTAO Newsletter, a magazine for women teachers, that she edited for 14 years. She is also the author of a history of women teachers in Ontario, called Always a Journey. Mary has been honored for her contribution to education with the prestigious Greer award and has been made a Fellow of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation.

In addition to freelance editing, Mary teaches a week-long course every summer on how to write for children. Now that her family is older, Mary devotes the rest of her time to writing for children and raising dogs. She breeds and raises champion rough collies and Welsh Springer Spaniels, which were imported from Wales. People who read Mary’s children’s books will readily see that she loves dogs, so it is natural that she and her family live on a farm and raise dogs. In the picture Mary is shown with two of her collie mothers, Annabel and Chloe. Mary has said she is never happier than when little fat puppies are running all over the yard.

Mary’s Sam books were based on a real dog. Sam was Mary’s very eccentric, very nosy Old English Sheepdog. Sam used to stare to get her own way and she was insatiably curious. Mary took the idea and created Sam, the dog detective. If you haven’t read the Sam novels, you can meet Sam, the dog detective, in a new series of graphic novels called the Sam and Friends mysteries.

Mary lives on farm in Clear Creek, Ontario, with her husband, Larry, three dogs and two of their three children. Their other daughter just got married, so there will be room now for another dog!

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

SPOILERS AHEAD:

I liked it, but I didn't like how the owner agreed for one of the kids to give one piece of candy to the dog at the end. I kept thinking the owners would give the dog a dog treat or something, but no it was candy. Dogs can't have chocolate or candy as it's very bad for them. What was the author thinking?! I liked everything else about the book though. The illustrations are amazing. They seem to be done in chalk pastel and they are absolutely beautiful.

[Suzy]

My son brought this book home from the school library and I read it to him. Very cute and sweet book. Overall, we liked it. However, it had a slightly alarming ending. The puppy was trying to get candy throughout the entire book, and at the end, the owners decided to give it to her. There was no statement about making sure the candy wasn't chocolate or anything like that. This book would be a lot better if they gave the puppy a dog treat instead of a "maybe just one" piece of candy. I'm afraid that if kids read this book without an adult around to explain why this could be dangerous, they'll think it's fine to give candy to their dogs.

[Heidi Burkhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cute story and illustrations - until the dog got to eat some Halloween candy. Yikes.

[Jaylin Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sam the dog really wants candy, so he dresses up for Halloween.