Did You Know Kimble's Dress is Real? I wrote Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (a chapter book for ages 6-10, 280L) in May, 1994. At that time, I knew Kimble would be wearing a dress from the fall of 1918.
It took me years to find a pattern for Kimble's dress. I looked and
looked. Then, several years ago I finally contacted Mrs. Penny Ladnier
over at CostumeGallery.com to see if she had any books or catalogs from 1918.
In Kimble's day, most girls did not go to the store and buy clothes.
They bought patterns and cloth. Then they made their dresses at
home! They would put the pattern on top of the cloth and then cut
out the pieces of the dress. Then they would sew the pieces together. Continued below. Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimbleseries among the best in family-friendly media,
products and services. Winner: Juvenile Books Series. When I contacted Mrs. Ladnier, I was truly surpised. Mrs. Ladnier
had just won an auction for a pattern book from the fall of 1918!
And what was even more amazing was the auction was over in
France!
So we waited and waited for the book to arrive. Once Mrs. Ladnier
received the pattern book for children's dresses, she faxed me the
different dresses that were for a girl Kimble's age. Then I chose
one I liked.
Later, the illustrator for Katie & Kimble, Mrs. Kim Tharp, helped
me design the back of the dress. We could guess at the back
pretty well because we could see the front and the side of the dress.
Mrs. Tharp also painted in a plaid pattern for the cloth of the dress. Plaid was very popular that year.
So, that means that Kimble's dress is REAL and that real girls wore
that dress in 1918. They also wore big red bows in their hair,
just like Kimble. And we took Kimble's hairstyle and her dress
boots from the pattern book, too!
Just thought you might like to know!
Fun Katie & Kimble Hint: On the sidebars, click on the yellow stripes for a little surprise or two!
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story(Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 6-10] Nine-year-old Katie Russell and her family look
normal. But the Russells don't know they are living with Kimble,
the ghost of a ten-year-old girl. That is, until Katie discovers Kimble
and the two of them set off on a quest to find out what happened to
Kimble's mother.
Teacher's Corner: Cereal Box Book Reports As so much of the plot of Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish
centers around a box of cereal, I thought this clever and fun idea to
build a book report around a cereal box was the perfect class or
homeschool activity to feature here on the Katie & Kimble Blog. The
activity comes from the book 24 Ready-to-Go Genre Book Reports by Susan Ludwig (Scholastic) and was adapted for the Katie &
Kimble Blog by Mrs. Barbara Day, a 4th grade teacher from Des Moines,
Iowa.
My
students read fiction, and created a Cereal Box Book Report. Students
were to invent a cereal based on a fictional book that they had read
during the month. They were to think of a name and shape for the
cereal that was somehow connected to the book they had read. We
covered real cereal boxes with paper, and each side of the box was to
follow a specific guideline:
* Front: the name of the cereal and picture to go with it. * Back: A game based on the story, which must include information from the story.
* Right Side: Ingredients—the characters and story setting. (Some of
the kids got confused on this one and just listed food ingredients.) * Left Side: A summary of the book, including the main conflict and resolution. * Top: The title and author of the book, and the student’s name.
The
last step was for students to plan and present a commercial for their
cereal to the class. I was very pleased with the results. We had 100%
completion of this project, and the kids seemed enthusiastic.
Thank you to Mrs. Day for
sharing your classroom experience with us, and to Ms. Ludwig for
allowing us to reproduce such an exciting classroom activity from her
creative book. We appreciate it!
Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimbleseries among the best in family-friendly media,
products and services. Winner: Juvenile Books Series. Now you can read the first 6 chapters of Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story for free. Click here to download the PDF. All the pictures are included!
Watch the Katie
& Kimble: A Ghost Story Video! Here's something fun to do!
Watch the video for Katie &
Kimble: A Ghost Story! The video tells the story of how Katie and
Kimble meet, shows lots of colored pictures, and uses the Kimble,
Kimble chant. You can find the words to the
Kimble, Kimble
chant over
on the right sidebar of this blog and chant
along.
You can click
here to watch the video on You Tube, or you can watch the
video
below.
Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimbleseries among the best in family-friendly media,
products and services. Winner: Juvenile Books Series.
I wrote Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (a chapter book for ages 6-10, 280L) in May, 1994. At that time, I knew Kimble would be wearing a dress from the fall of 1918.
Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimble series among the best in family-friendly media,
products and services. Winner: Juvenile Books Series.
* Front: the name of the cereal and picture to go with it.
Here's something fun to do!
