Ghosts, witches, and vampires, oh my! While these supernatural beings usually give us a fright, children’s author Flavia Z Drago created stories that follow these traditionally scary characters on fun and funny journeys designed especially for children.
Three characters, Gustavo, Leila, and Vlad, are particularly fun to follow and learn from during Halloween. Come with us as we dive into these characters and explore their journeys in three of our favorite Flavia Z Drago Books!
Gustavo the Shy Ghost Book
Our first character is Gustavo. Gustavo is the main character in Drago’s book, Gustavo the Shy Ghost. However, unlike spooky ghosts who like to cause trouble, Gustavo is a friendly ghost who is simply trying to make friends.
Gustavo struggles with extreme shyness, which makes it difficult for him to make friends. Especially when trying to make friends with a group of colorful and friendly monsters.
Although these are friendly monsters, Gustavo feels invisible and is unsure about how to approach them. Then he comes up with a plan to invite them to a concert where he plans to perform his violin music. Although he is nervous, he summons his courage and invites them.
When the big day arrives, not only do the monsters come to the concert but they love his violin music! Moreover, they realize how wonderful Gustavo is and become his friends!
In the end, kids learn how Gustavo’s courage and kindness helped him make the friends he longed for. This helps them learn important lessons about self-expression, overcoming fear, and accepting and celebrating our unique qualities.
Gustavo the Shy Ghost Lesson Plans
While this book is a delight to read for enjoyment, it is also packed with the opportunity to teach young readers important lessons. Beyond the wonderful lessons of bravery and connection, Gustavo the Shy Ghost is perfect for engaging students in various reading and writing lessons.
Furthermore, using our read aloud for Gustavo the Shy Ghost you will find it easy to engage students in reading and comprehension for several days! As you will see below, the first three lesson plans cover core reading skills. Then, after the three lessons you may choose to continue exploring Gustavo’s story through writing, vocabulary, and assessment. You’ll even see opportunities for kids to demonstrate their understanding in creative ways!
Reading Activities for Gustavo the Shy Ghost
Various reading comprehension activities are at the center of any good read aloud. Therefore, we created enough engaging activities to support students in exploring Gustavo the Shy Ghost through multiple reading lenses.
From the first time your students see the book they will be ready to engage their thinking as you ask them questions like, “What is the title of the story?” and “Does the title give us any clues about what the story is about?”
As students continue to read the story, they will further explore reading concepts through comprehension questions that explore the plot and other story elements. They will also dive deeper into the characterization and structure of the story.
At the end of their reading exploration, students will also explore their understanding of Gustavo’s journey by assessing the illustrations. This is extra enjoyable due to the amazing illustrations by Flavia D. Zago!
Writing Activities for Gustavo the Shy Ghost
As a teacher, you know that reading and writing are integral parts of literacy development. So, to further support your students’ learning we included a writing activity for when students finish reading.
In addition to providing students with writing practice, this writing activity is also a great way for them to make personal connections to Gustavo and the story.
Assessments for Gustavo the Shy Ghost
While many of the activities above could be used for formative assessments we also created a quiz to use as a summative assessment. Moreover, we designed it with early readers in mind – providing pictures as a scaffold for demonstrating their understanding.
Vocabulary for Gustavo the Shy Ghost
In addition to the writing prompt and quiz, many teachers will also want to include vocabulary in their lesson plans. Therefore, we provided vocabulary practice and assessment activities.
Like the quiz for Gustavo, the vocabulary activities also include pictures. This is a great scaffold for young readers who are still developing their awareness of reading words.
Crafts for Gustavo the Shy Ghost
Along with the various opportunities for kids to engage with the story through reading and writing, we know there is value in creative expression too. Therefore, as part of this read aloud you’ll find two creative ways for students to show their comprehension.
The first creative activity is our retelling puppets. Retelling puppets is something we added to all of our read alouds in recent years and one of our favorite activities! These puppets are an excellent way to allow students to show their understanding of the story by retelling it in their own words. Moreover, it can be a wonderful scaffold or differentiation tool for students who are still developing their writing skills.
Leila the Perfect Witch Book
Leila is another enchanting character created by Flavia Z. Drago. Leila has the same benefits of teaching important lessons to kids and providing practice with literacy skills that Gustavo’s store does.
In this story, readers get to know Leila, a young witch from a family known for excelling in witchy activities like brewing potions and casting spells. Beyond the potion brewing and spell casting, Leila’s passion lies in her baking skills.
Leila loves baking so much that she is determined to win her town’s prestigious Magnificent Witchy Cake Contest. Confident in her abilities, Leila takes on the challenge but soon discovers that striving for perfection can be overwhelming and isolating. When things don’t go as planned, Leila learns an important lesson about the value of teamwork, self-acceptance, and embracing imperfections – teaching students more important lessons alongside Gustavo’s.
Leila the Perfect Witch Lesson Plans
Just like Gustavo the Shy Ghost, Leila the Perfect Witch is not only a delightful story to read but a wonderful one to explore through reading and writing lessons. Therefore, we created a Leila the Perfect Witch read aloud.
This read aloud follows the same three to five day outline as the read aloud for Gustavo the Shy Ghost. This means students get the same opportunity to dive deeper into the story of Leila the Perfect Witch as they did when reading Gustavo the Shy Ghost.
Moreover, they continue to practice the same important reading and writing skills through engaging activities. Take a peek below at some of the engaging activities you will find in this read aloud for Leila the Perfect Witch.
Vlad the Fabulous Vampire Book
If you are looking for the perfect Halloween read aloud trio then you will want to include this third book by Flavia Z Drago: Vlad the Fabulous Vampire.
Like the first two books above, Vlad the Fabulous Vampire engages early readers in a fun story that also teaches important lessons. Moreover, providing a story that allows for continued development of core literacy skills.
Before we share the reading activities that go along with this wonderful picture book, let us share a bit more about Vlad.
Vlad is a young vampire who adores fashion, glitter, and everything fabulous. However, he feels pressure to live up to his family’s traditional vampire ways, which emphasize gloom and darkness.
Vlad struggles to fit in with the traditional vampire ways until he realizes that staying true to himself is more important. So, with the support of his friends, Vlad finds the confidence to shine in his own unique way and proves that sometimes it is more important to embrace who you are than to follow tradition.
This joyful message about self-acceptance is perfect to pair with the messages that Gustavo and Leila teach kids.
Vlad the Fabulous Vampire Lesson Plans
Once again, students explore the story over several days in this Vlad the Fabulous Vampire read aloud. Each day, looking at the book through a new lens that further engages their interest in reading and further develops their reading comprehension.
In addition, if you pair this read aloud with the other two Flavia Z Drago books above, students will already be familiar with the format. Therefore, they will be able to focus their learning on the story at hand and not be overwhelmed by a new read aloud format.
While this read aloud for Vlad the Fabulous Vampire follows a similar format as the other read alouds the questions and prompts are specific to this book. Below is a quick look at the questions, writing prompt, and other activities that students will explore specifically for Vlad.
Flavia Z Drago Books for PreK
As mentioned above, these three Halloween read alouds follow the same basic structure. This is not exclusive to these three books or even to read alouds for first and second grades!
Our tried and true read aloud format transfers to PreK and kindergarten read alouds as well. Moreover, many of the books that first and second graders enjoy reading are also age appropriate for preschoolers! Therefore, we created a PreK read aloud for each of the Halloween books above!
Gustavo the Shy Ghost PreK Read Aloud
Leila the Perfect Witch PreK Read Aloud
Vlad the Fabulous Vampire PreK Read Aloud
Complete with the same engaging activities and format these PreK read alouds for Halloween are perfect for any preschool classroom. They are also easily adapted for kindergarten!
Whether you are a PreK teacher or second grade teacher, or one in between, this read aloud format will get your students excited for reading time every.single.day! Not to mention, with everything ready to teach, you will be excited for reading time too!
