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The Great Antonio is Elise Gravel's loving tribute to Antonio Barichievich, the Croatian born strong man who was a Montreal fixture for many years. The Great Antonio is also yet another superb beginning reader from the fantastic TOON Books. Gravel begins this fanciful story of the life of this giant of a man speculating about his possible parentage and wondering about his childhood in Croatia. This may seem like an odd subject for a beginning reader, but Gravel tells Antonio's story with a playful tone that is immediately engaging.
To show readers just how HUGE Antonio was, she shows his clothes (a cat could sleep in his shoe, but it was quite smelly) and his eating habits. She also shows reader the various opponents he wrestled and the many enormous, heaving things he lifted and pulled.
Antonio was larger than life and stories about him border on the unbelievable. Reading Gravel's author notes at the end of the book helped me get a perspective on this strange - for a beginning reader, anyway - story. Gravel shares that one of her favorite authors is Roald Dahl, who "got her interested in unusual people and animals," saying that she is, "attracted to anyone who is STRANGE or FUNNY." Growing up in Montreal, Gravel was very familiar with this strange and funny man. Like Sampson, Antonio had magnificent hair - long, thick dreadlocks that fell to the ground and were often used to pull buses. Or, Antonio would put metal in his braids and use them as golf clubs and more.
Gravel gives The Great Antonio the feel of a tall tale, speculating about his life and his feats but also respectfully sharing the stranger aspects of it. Near the end of his life, Antonio chose to live on the streets of Montreal, using a donut shop as his office. Gravel tells readers that, when he died, a mountain of flowers was left at his favorite table at the donut shop. Antonio himself may have created this air of mystery about himself, lending to his larger than life persona. In her author notes, Gravel shares that, after his death, many of his "wild stories" were proven to be true!
Source: Review Copy
Rabbit & Robot and Ribbit is the newest chapter book from the marvelously silly Cece Bell. In Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover we first met the two friends working out their differences at their first sleepover. The best beginning reader chapter books seem to be those where friends work out their differences and/or their differences make for a stronger friendship. Bell brings all of that and more to her fantastic chapter books.
In Rabbit & Robot and Ribbit, jealousy is at the heart of the story. Robot has a new friend, Ribbit, and Rabbit is feeling left out. Especially since the only word that Ribbit says is "ribbit." However, "ribbit" means much more than just "ribbit," but only Robot can, using his Built-in Frog Glossary, translate. Bell layers on the wordplay, with Robot telling Rabbit that he is "engrossed" in something and Rabbit responding, "Gross!" Rabbit and Ribbit connect over their love of the television show Cowboy Jack Rabbit but clash again when Ribbit wants to be Cowboy Jack Rabbit in their pretend play. Ribbit is a girl and everyone knows girls can't be Cowboy Jack!
Through it all, the three manage to work things out, although it takes Robot overheating and falling over for Rabbit and Ribbit to truly bond. There are context clues and picture clues that will help emerging readers as they laugh their way through this fun new book and be ready for the next book in this super series!
Source: Review Copy
Benny and Penny in How to Say Goodbye is the sixth book featuring these bickering siblings and, as always, Geoffrey Hayes captures the intense and fleeting emotions that young children feel and how they make sense of the world around them perfectly. And, as always, his illustrations are marvelously charming and the natural world that the mice live in gently beautiful. Hayes's graphic novel series is perfect for emerging readers looking for something beyond Frog & Toad and Amelia Bedelia.
In How to Say Goodbye, Hayes has his mice brother and sister encounter death. While playing together in the fall leaves, Penny finds a salamander she named Little Red. She knows that it is dead, having a grasp of what death it. Benny reacts with anger, throwing the salamander into the bushes.
Penny gets help from Melina and the two make plans for Little Red, Benny skulking around the edges of their activities. As the they prepare for the burial, Benny and Penny have memories of Little Red, each feeling their grief in their own ways. They also find ways to honor the life of the salamander. As the story draws to an end, another salamander appears and a new friendship begins.
You can read my reviews of other
Source: Review Copy
Ape and Armadillo Take Over the World by James Sturm is my new favorite book. I fell in love with TOON Books when I discovered them in 2008, just around the time my youngest was learning to read. Having been through this process with my two older children, I was not looking forward to the tired old leveled readers that we were left to slog through after classics like Frog & Toad, Little Bear and Poppleton. Françoise Mouly and her quest to bring engaging, marvelously illustrated graphic novels into the world of beginning readers has meant that there are now over 50 fantastic books to take your new reader from sight words to chapter books.
If you have read even a few beginning readers, you know that unlikely friends and the complexities of friendship are the staple of this genre. With Ape and Armadillo, Sturm has created the only duo who could even remotely rival Frog and Toad. And an armadillo! How many armadillo characters are there in kid's books to begin with? Happily, the title page shows Ape juggling, a curled up Armadillo among the balls in the air. Sturm's illustrations are superb - crisp and colorful and filled with motion and emotion.
Armadillo is a little guy with big ideas. Ape, his opposite, is more thoughtful and compassionate. When Ape and Armadillo Take Over the World begins, we find Ape taking issue with Armadillo's plan for world domination. While Armadillo does things fly away on the royal Pegasus, Ape has to distract a spitting serpent, fight an army of robots and escape through the sewer tunnels of the castle. Armadillo counters, saying that he is the one who thought up this plan and having ideas is not so easy. When Ape tries to come up with a plan (that involves kids, an ice cream shop, juggling Armadillo and hiding in tubs of ice cream) Armadillo shoots him down. But, like all good friends, the two manage to find common ground, coming up with a phenomenal plan for world domination that involves special suits, magic wands, creating a zoo filled only with really cool animals like griffins, dinosaurs and giant bugs and ending with ice cream. Because, as Ape points out, he likes a lot of the people in the world and doesn't want to rule it or blow it up.
The best part of Ape and Armadillo Take Over the World? Sturm includes bonus comic strips that run at the bottom of every page, giving readers a glimpse into the personalities of the main characters. Ape and Armadillo embody the creative imagination of kids, a creativity that is not bound by logic or physical limitations.
Read my reviews of the Adventures in Cartooning Series here
BLIP! by Barnaby Richards is a fantastic new TOON Book at the essential Level 1. Featuring a robot, I was drawn to BLIP! immediately. The story begins on the endpapers as we a spaceship floating through the galaxy. "Blip," goes the ship. Until it goes, "Tchok!" when it hits a mountain on a planet.
The robot climbs out of his his ship and begins to explore, always saying, "Blip," sometimes as statement, an exclamation or even a question. Richards's planet is a strange one, filled with curious details that you will want to spend time with. The robot goes over land and under water, meeting all kinds of creatures, even a human.
Finally, the robot returns to the ship only to find another robot working on another ship! The two exchange "blips" and "bleeps" and head off, back into space.
Blip! is a fantastic introduction to the sequential art of the graphic novel and it is also (as are all the books TOON publishes) a superb example of what founder François Mouly started out to do in 2008 - created beginning readers with engaging illustrations and stories that are anything but boring.
Source: Review Copy
Lucy by Randy Cecil is a truly special book that is hard to categorize. Is it a really long picture book? Is it a really big chapter book? Told in three acts and illustrated in soft black and grey tones, Lucy feels almost like a silent movie that has been captured in the pages of a book. A few years ago while working for a literary agent, I learned that the industry standard for a picture book is 1,500 words. That means that greats like Bill Peet and William Steig, to name just a few, might not get published if they were submitting manuscripts today. I also often find myself missing the richness of a longer picture book and the complex stories that can be told when more than 1,500 words are used. I am SO grateful to both Randy Cecil for writing Lucy and to Candlewick Press for publishing this marvelous, genre and standard bending book. 
Told in three acts (plus a very short Act IV), there are layers of threes in this book. There are three main characters: Lucy, the stray dog, Eleanor, the girl who feeds her each morning and Eleanor's father, Sam Wische, an aspiring performer. We see Lucy perform her morning routine three times in a row, we see Eleanor perform her morning routine three times in a row and we see Sam try to perform in front of an audience three times, the third one being the charm. There are three flashbacks to Lucy's life before she became a stray.
Lucy, Eleanor and Sam's lives all intertwine and overlap, coming together for a climactic, satisfying ending in Act III. Lucy is looking for something special from her life before becoming a stray, Eleanor finds herself looking for Lucy in Act III, and Sam is looking for a way to overcome his stage fright and share his passion. Cecil's storytelling is sweet and uncomplicated and the repetition is comforting, as are warmly fuzzy illustrations that are presented in a circular composition. Lucy might feel like a simple story, but the more you read it, and the more you think about it long after having read it, the more you will realize that it's not!
Source: Review Copy
I don't usually have the time to review follow up books in a series, but Emma Virján's Pig In a Wig series of beginning to read books is such a find that I want to call it to your attention as often as possible. The illustrations are bright and colorful with fantastic picture clues and the gently rhyming stories are always entertaining and just silly enough to keep kids reading over and over.
In What This Story Needs is a Munch and a Crunch, the Pig in a Wig plans a picnic for all her friends. As before, the phrase, "What this story needs," appears often in the text, which is never more than a sentence per page. In fact, the book has only five sentences total! Emerging readers will find this book engaging and feel success at the end, which comes quickly. The story arc follow the picnicking animals as they eat and play and then, as the skies grow dark, find a new place to picnic. These books are a staple in my school library and I can't wait to see what the Pig in a Wig does next!
Source: Review Copy
I didn't intend to review Mo Willem's The Thank You Book, the 25th and final book in the Elephant & Piggie series that began in 2007. I first encountered these books as a bookseller and story-time-reader while working at Barnes & Noble. I wasn't a big fan of Willems's Pigeon books, mostly because I found them challenging to read out loud. I quickly discovered that Elephant & Piggie books were a joy to read out loud and had mass appeal, from little kids to parents to even teens! Then my youngest son started learning to read and my appreciation of what Willems was doing deepened immensely. You can read all about that experience HERE. I want to take this time to tell you what a deeply satisfying end to a series The Thank You Book is and share my experiences with Elephant & Piggie as an elementary school librarian and, of course, say THANK YOU to Mo Willems!
Willems's The Thank You Book is both a wrap-up and a genuine thank you to readers. While spending time with Gerald and Piggie is always a treat, I remember how exciting it was to pick up a new Elephant & Piggie book over the last nine years and find a new character in the story. Snake from Can I Play, Too? is probably my favorite. All these characters are back in The Thank You Book and on the endpapers! And, in a really awesome wink, Pigeon appears in the pages (and not just the endpapers) of The Thank You Book! Piggie apologizes for not including him in their books, to which Pigeon (in his own font) responds, "That is what you think!" The Thank You Book reads like the best ending to a long running television series possible. Readers get to revisit old friends and familiar story lines while also seeing their favorite characters do what they do best one last time.
I am finishing up my second full year as an elementary school librarian. More than 80% of the students at my school are socioeconomically disadvantaged, 65% of them are reading at grade level and 55% of them are English language learners. When I took over my library it had languished through more than a year of substitute librarians cycling in and out of the space and several years of a diminished or non-existent book buying budget. There were just a few Elephant & Piggie books on the shelves and they were not circulating. Taking advantage of my employee discount at Barnes & Noble one last time, and taking advantage of the generosity of my amazing principal, I bought a copy of every book in the series and began reading them out loud to my students - all grades. Gerald and Piggie became instant celebrities in the library. Today, we have at least three copies of each book in the series on the shelves (in their own special section) and they are always almost all checked out. They are a staple for my first graders, but I especially love checking them out to the kindergarteners. Technically, I'm not supposed to check books out to the kinders, but it's hard to say "no" to those adorable little faces. And I absolutely love telling them to look for Pigeon at the end of the book -and in all of Willems's books! Sometimes I have to nudge the second and third graders away from Elephant & Piggie, or encourage them to get one book at their reading level and one E&P. And, happily, I occasionally get older students checking these books out to read to younger siblings.
Willems's books have become a common thread for all of my students. As I read The Thank You Book over and over, about 25 times in all to all grades, I choked back more than a few tears. I explained to the students that this would be the last Elephant & Piggie book and their disappointment and shock was always audible. They didn't always understand why I was sad that this was the last book, but when I told them it was like saying, "Goodbye," to two good friends who were moving away, the lightbulbs went on - just like Piggie's often did. Having had two years now to inspire my students to read by hooking them with Willems's humor, I am looking forward to seeing our reading scores rise. And, while I am sad to think that there will be no more new books from Gerald and Piggie, I look forward to whatever it is Mo Willems does next, and I especially look forward to getting to share it with my students! THANK YOU, MO WILLEMS! Your books have made a difference in my life and the lives of my students.
Source: Purchased
I reviewed the picture book Everybody Sleeps (But Not Fred) by Josh Schneider earlier this year and LOVED it. Schneider is a hilarious author and a hilarious illustrator, as his rhyming story about Fred, who has a "to-do list you wouldn't believe," proves. Fred needs to stay awake to do things like practice his karate chops and warm up for a yelling contest while animals from all over
By:
Sue Morris @ KidLitReviews,
on 7/5/2015
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What This Story Needs Is a Pig in a Wig 
Written & Illustrated by Emma J. Virján
HarperCollins Children’s Books
05/12/2015
978-0-06-232724-6
32 pages Age 1—3
“What this story needs is a pig in a wig on a boat with some friends having fun in the sun–So come on board! Join Pig on an exciting boat ride where she discovers that life is a lot more fun with more friends.”[back cover]
Review
NOTE: This review is a tad unusual. It mixes my traditional review format with interview questions asked of the pig in a wig.
What This Story Needs Is a Pig in a Wig will instantly remind you of dear ole Dr. Seuss. The author employs fast-paced writing combined with simple, but effective, rhymes young children will love to hear and repeat. The narrator sends Pig, wearing a stunning pink wig—what is with that wig—sailing the moat in a boat. Why would a pig wear a wig? Well, I asked Pig and she said (rather emphatically),
“Wigs are fun and I’m a pig that loves to have fun!”
If you venture to Pig’s website—and I do suggest you do—you will find Pig is not simply a pink wig gal.
Back to the story: One by one, the narrator adds a menagerie of interesting, kid-friendly animals to the boat in the moat. A frog, a dog, and a goat on a log join Pig in her wig. But there are more. A rat, wearing a cool hat, sits on a trunk—belonging to an elephant—with a skunk, who is with a mouse in a house. I was beginning to wonder what other animal could possibly be added to the small boat in the moat, when Pig yelled at the narrator. I asked Pig why she stopped all of the narrator’s fun. I thought it was very exciting having rhyming animals set sail. Pig had a different point of view:
“It was getting crowded, too crowded — a frog, a dog, a goat on a log,
a rat in a hat on a trunk, with a skunk, in a house, with a mouse AND
a panda in a blouse? It was more than my little, pink boat could handle.”
Pig is right, the small boat is crowded. So, beginning with the Panda—she performs a cannonball—the narrator reverses course, sending the animals out of the boat and into the moat. Once they leave, the narrator changes the story:
“What this story needs
is a pig in a wig,
on a boat,
in a moat,
having fun,
in the sun,
on her own . . .”
Now, all alone in her boat, Pig is sailing the moat. I think Pig is lonely and realizes she enjoyed her new animal friends. So the pig in a pink wig called for her new friends to return. Taking charge of the narration, Pig decides what the story needs . . .
Pig in a Wig, is a fun story young children will love to hear. The rhyming is simple, yet smart and witty. Kids will be reciting Pig in a Wig and, hopefully, figuring out their own rhyming group of friends. The illustrations are clean and engaging. Many pages hold surprises, such as a pig snout rug, Frog doing a hand-stand, and Dog and Goat holding hands. Dr. Seuss would love Pig in a Wig, which happens to be the same size as an iconic Dr. Seuss book. The simple story will charm young children during story time at school or a library. What This Story Needs Is a Pig in a Wig is so much fun to read I hope to see Pig in new stories.
I asked one last question, wondering, with all those charismatic animals on board, who is Pig’s favorite passenger. She said,
“Well . . . none were my favorite at the beginning, as they were all getting
in my way of having fun in the sun! At the end though, ALL of them were
my favorite, with Goat on his log being my extra, extra favorite.”
WHAT THIS STORY NEEDS IS A PIG IN A WIG. Text and illustrations copyright (C) 2015 by . Reproduced by permission of the publisher, HarperCollins Children’s Books, New York, NY.
Purchase What This Story Needs is a Pig in a Wig at Amazon—Book Depository—Apple iBooks—HarperCollins Children’s Books.
Learn more about What This Story Needs is a Pig in a Wig HERE.
There are Coloring Sheet HERE,
An Activity Guide HERE,
And a Teacher’s Guide HERE.
Pig in a Wig’s website: http://emmavirjan.com/pig-in-a-wig/
Meet the author/illustrator, Emma J. Virján, at her website: http://www.emmavirjan.com
Find more engaging picture books a the HarperCollins Children’s Books website: http://www.harpercollins.com/
x
Copyright © 2015 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved
Review section word count = 453
Full Disclosure: What This Story Needs is a Pig in a Wig, by Emma J. Virján, and received from HarperCollins Children’s Books, is in exchange NOT for a positive review, but for an HONEST review. The opinions expressed are my own and no one else’s. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Bob Shea is a very funny guy. He is also a very funny guy who gets kids. Best of all, he can blend his humor with his grasp of a child's psyche and translate it onto the page in pictures and words, which is not easy. Way back in 2010 I loved and reviewed Dinosaur vs. the Potty when it came out and read it over and over at story time. While I've been keeping up with reading Shea's books,
The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake by Robin Newman and illustrated by Deborah Zemke
is a fantastic new book from Creston Books, a homegrown publisher of books printed in America that launched in Fall of 2013. Of course I love a good story, but I also love a beautifully made book and all of Creston's books fit this bill, as you can glimpse in the photo below, and by taking a look inside The
Being an elementary school librarian has changed how I think (and feel) about books in really positive ways. During the decades that I was a children's bookseller, I had the luxury of being selective and critical with my tastes. Now, of course I am still critical and selective, but I am also more open minded in how I think about a book. What This Book Needs is a Pig in a Wig by Emma Virján is
A patron walks up to your children’s reference desk. Asks for books for beginning readers. The patron has a small child who is just at the very very beginning of learning to read and needs books with simple words. No big long sentences. Nothing too intense. Just the basics. You walk over to your easy section and look at the titles. And that’s when it hits you . . . easy easy? Basic books? Is there anything harder in the world to find sometimes?
I mention this because there’s been a lot of discussion amongst my fellows concerning the most basic readers. I’m talking books that come before you get to The Cat in the Hat. I remember with crystal clear clarity how I would have to turn time and again to the Berenstain book Old Hat, New Hat or other equally useful, equally old books. Where were the really really basic easy books out there that are currently being published? The advent of the Geisel Award for books for beginning readers is a marvelous place to go to try to find such books but even they trend a bit older.
The real problem here is that there’s no consistency between publisher reading level ratings. What might be a “3″ to one publisher is a straightforward “2″ to another. But having your books Lexiled (is that a verb) or otherwise leveled costs publishers money. Money they might not have if they’re a small operation. As a result, leveling often profits the big guys able to produce the cash upfront.
Now there are two series that meet the needs of the very very early reader. They don’t get a lot of attention or press but I figure they’re worth mentioning.
First off, there’s the Holiday House series “I Like to Read“. When looking for very very basic beginning reader books, this series has a lot to offer. First off, they get glorious artists like the Lewins or Emily Arnold McCully or David McPhail to provide the art. Then you’ve incredibly simple wordplay. On the back of each book is the leveling information too, just in case you’ve a patron insisting on such a thing. Their sole drawback? The size. To show off the art properly the books are the size of your average picture book (8″ X 10″). But if your library is anything like mine, the easy reader section contains only books, and consequently shelving, around 9″ X 6″ or so. And as much as you’d like to shelve this series with the other easy books, logistically it just doesn’t work. So you end up putting them in the picture book area, where they get lost amongst the more lengthy texts. If a librarian knows to recognize their singular blue spines then it isn’t a problem. However, until some are released in the standard easy reader format (something I hope for) they’ll never quite become as well known as they deserve to be.
The other series I like is the Blue Apple Press books Flip-a-Word series. These books take very simple words and combine them in multiple ways, drilling them home. They’re akin to phonics without actually being phonics. Initially when I purchased them I put them in the picture book section but my librarians objected vociferously and we realized that they could do a lot more good in the easy reader section (they’re the right size anyway). Though they didn’t get any reviews initially, after perusing the titles I can attest that they’re well done. Smart writing, smart ideas.
So what are the other really really basic series you know of?
2014 has been a very exciting year for emerging readers. Publishers finally got the message and started paying more attention to readers who are ready to move beyond leveled readers, but not quite ready to make the jump to chapter books like Magic Tree House and Junie B. Jones. With less pages, more illustrations, larger font, I have labeled these series Bridge Chapter Books. For years,
By: thedarkphantom,
on 6/21/2014
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Anita Banks has lived in Alabama since she was six years old, she raised three children and has four grandchildren. They are the inspiration for her writing. She likes the adventures and escapes that stories allow you to explore and the myriad of emotions you feel. Anita loves to travel, read and has recently started running.
http://www.anitabanks.com/
Thank you for joining us today, Anita. Can you please start off by telling us a bit about yourself?
Thank you for having me here. I am a new author with my first picture book titled, Tanner Builds a Block Tower. I am excited as puppy with a new toy. I am a wife, mother, grandmother. My favorite new activity is running, I started because I needed to get some activity from sitting in a chair for more than nine hours for my day job. I started two years ago, and have found the running community where I live to be a great group of people that are passionate about the sport and are supportive of new runners. I started with a training program to run a 5k and have progressed to three half marathons so far.
When did you first get bit by the writing bug?
I have loved reading since my introduction to Dick and Jane and Dr. Seuss. I am constantly reading something all the time. When I was in junior high school, I had a creative writing class. That was when the writing bug stung me. But when family and life took over, I put the dream aside and just occasionally thought of it.
Why did you decide to write stories for children?
Probably for the simple joy children’s books give to a reader. I enjoy reading to children and seeing their smiles and their happiness in asking you to read to them. I wanted to contribute to that happiness. And it’s fun.
Do you believe it is harder to write books for a younger audience?
I personally have nothing to compare it to, yet. Maybe I will give another genre a try someday. The other writing I do is journaling for myself.
What is your favorite part of writing for young people?
I like the writing, I like putting the words to paper, or rather the screen. They have to be edited quite a bit before I’m done. But seeing the story unfold on the screen is probably my favorite part.
Can you tell us what your latest book is all about?
Tanner Builds a Block Tower is about a little boy who is determined to build a tower with his blocks. But on the way to his destination he get distracted by different animals and insects. He also loses some of his blocks. So he has to find them to finish what he started. Determination and perseverance is the theme.
What inspired you to write it?
The inspiration for this book, was my grandson, Tanner. On a visit when he was about three years old, he loved to play with his building blocks and build towers, over and over. He was fascinated with this repetitive play. We also went on numerous walks, he loved to explore the outdoors, and still does. So it seemed a natural fit to combine the two activities.
What is up next for you?
I am shopping out two more picture books, and writing a chapter book right now.
Do you have anything else to add?
Thank you so much for having me. I hope you enjoy my book.
Thank you for spending time with us today, Anita. We wish you much success.
By:
Melissa Wiley,
on 4/16/2014
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Here’s a little moment in time. Right after I read The Little Fur Family to Huck (for the first time!) the other day, he wanted to read it himself. This is one of my favorite picture books to read with very young kids, and I can’t imagine how it slipped past Huck until now—I found this copy of the book at the bottom of a box of toys earlier in the week. Of course the very best edition is the tiny one with the faux-fur cover. It’s around here somewhere, but I don’t recall seeing it in ages. It’s probably under a bed.
Anyway, when I grabbed my boy for the read-aloud, he was reluctant to listen, as he very often is right at the beginning. And then, as nearly always happens, before I finish the first page, he’s hooked. It went double this time around. He fell hard for the little fur child in the wild, wild wood, like so many before him.
I caught a good chunk of his reading on video. There’s background noise from his big sisters and brother, but you can hear him pretty well. I love watching the leaps kids make at this age—the substitutions where they think they see where the word is going and plug in one they know, like his “fun children” for “fur child” and “mom” for “mother.”
I don’t know if I caught this stage on video with any of the other kids. I have a pretty young Rilla reading an Ariel speech from The Tempest—you can’t hear much in the recording but it melts me to see the confidence with which she attacks some quite challenging text—but nothing, as far as I can recall, of the others at Huck’s stage. I’m glad I captured this much. Those sneezes!
(Vimeo link)
By:
Jen Robinson,
on 4/8/2014
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Book: Ten Eggs in a Nest (Bright and Early Books for Beginning Readers)
Author: Marily Sadler
Illustrator: Michael Fleming
Pages: 48
Age Range: 3-7
Ten Eggs in a Nest is an early reader from the Bright and Early Books collection. In my house, we've found it to be quite educational (and fun) for a pre-reader, too. The premise of the story is that Gwen the chicken and Red Rooster are going to be parents. Out of supersition ("It's bad luck to count your eggs before they hatch.") Gwen won't tell Red how many eggs there are. As the eggs hatch, in increasing size batches (starting with one), Red rushes off to the worm store. Each time, before he gets back, there are more chicks, with a total of ten.
This book works as an early reader. The words and sentence structure are simple (though not boring), and there is plenty of repetition. It also works as a counting and simple addition book. Like this:
"ONE plus TWO makes THREE baby chicks!" said Gwen.
ONE! TWO! THREE!"
And, laterL
"ONE plus TWO plus THREE plus FOUR makes TEN baby chicks!" clucked Gwen.
As a read-aloud, it's enjoyable, though I did find myself skimming by the fourth or fifth read. I think for new readers the repetition will provide scaffolding, and work well. The capitalizing of the text of the numbers helps to highlight those, too.
I think what made my daughter ask to read it again (and again) was a combination of the fun of doing the counting, and the charm of Red Rooster. He's so proud when his babies are born - it's really adorable. Like this:
"Red strutted into Worm World.
He held his head high.
He puffed his chest out.
Pinky Pig was behind the counter."
There's also repeated humor when Red is surprised and says that you could have knocked him over with a feather. That, together with the "don't count your chicks before they are hatched" gives parents a chance to introduce the idea of sayings.
Michael Fleming's illustrations are boldly colored and inviting, with thick outlines and a spare use of texture. The birds are not representational, but they are all cute, especially the strutting red. My daughter noticed that the sign in Worm World is written with worm shapes, and she was quite charmed by this detail.
all in all, Ten Eggs in a Nest is an early reader done well. It's definitely worth a look, and worth adding to school and public libraries.I look forward to trying it again when my daughter is actually ready to read.
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (@RandomHouseKids)
Publication Date: January 28, 2014
Source of Book: Review copy from the publisher
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© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook.
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The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza is the newest graphic novel for kids from the multi-talented James Kochalka. I reviewed
Little
Boy Good-for-Nothing and
the Shongololo
Brave Little Boy
Good-for-Nothing must go to the rain-keeper’s hut to bring back the rain-cloud
and save his village from drought. Fierce crocodiles guard the rain-cloud, but
with the help of his friend the Shongololo, the monkey, the lion and the
moon-moths, he rescues the animals that go bump in the night, sets free the
moon, and becomes
I first posted this review in September of 2008, when my blog was barely a month old and I was racing to write reviews of all my favorite (and my children's) books. A new comment on these books reminded me how wonderful and rare they are and I decided to repost this review and hopefully introduce a whole new generation of emerging readers to these superb books! If you already know the DRAGON
In their third outing, Bink and Gollie are again true to form. Gollie is superior as ever and Bink as stubborn. Luckily these character traits make for some great stories. In the first of the three tales that make up this beginning reader, Gollie sees a photo of her great aunt wearing a crown. Always suspecting she came from royal blood, Gollie now has all the proof she needs. (I confess I have a slight preference for Gollie. Perhaps it has something to do with the nickname my family bestowed on me as a child: Her Majesty.) Gollie's haughty manner does not hold water with Bink, and how Gollie is brought back to her senses is subtly and touchingly portrayed.
Story two showcases Bink's pressing desire to be tall. She falls prey to an advertisement for a Stretch-o-Matic device, something akin to a medieval torture rack, only this one suspends you from the ceiling with weights. Needless to say, results don't turn out as planned, but Bink finds a way to be satisfied with her purchase. The last story has Bink and Gollie on the search for something to collect. Inspired by
Flicker's Arcana of the Extraordinary, the girls attempt to get their names and photos in the hefty tome. In the end they succeed, but not in a way most readers would have predicted.
As always, Tony Fucile's illustrations are a delight and in this book they are especially strong. The image of Gollie standing all alone in the rain adds to the story's pathos and the depiction of what happens to the Stetch-o-Matic is dramatic indeed. I especially like the fun details Fucile includes, such as the portrait hanging on Bink's wall of Marcellus Gilmore Edson, inventor of peanut butter. According to Google, Edson did, in fact, hold a patent for peanut butter, issued in 1884. Who knew?
Bink & Gollie: Best Friends Forever
by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee
illustrations by Tony Fucile
Candlewich Press 96 pages
Published: April 2013
Aside from Françoise Mouly (TOON BOOKS) and Art Speigelman's brillinat Little Lit collections of folklore, fairy tales and funny (and scary) stories, illustrated in comic book format by a truly remarkable collection of artists (Jules Feiffer, Maurice Sendak, Barbara McClintock, David Macaulay, Daniel Clowes and William Joyce, to name a few) and authors (see previous list and add: Lemony
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Something I especially love about TOON Books is the exposure I get to the works of acclaimed cartoonists from all over the world and the slightly left of
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By:
Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 3/27/2013
Blog:
a wrung sponge
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I am very excited today to be part of the Hilary McKay Blog Tour! Today she is stopping by for an interview focused mainly on her books Lulu and the Duck in the Park and Lulu and the Dog by the Sea. These two endearing early chapter books are a delight to read. I will be giving away copies to two lucky commentors on today's post, so make sure you stick around and put in your two cents at the
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I always look for Rookie Reader books. They typically have only one short sentence (maybe two) on each page.
Thank you for this post! I am a Title 1 teacher and I took time this summer to create a list of what’s at our local library organized by the leveling system we use at school (the DRA). The librarians and I were surprised to see how few titles were available for the earliest of readers. The Flip A Word books are very popular, but we don’t have the Holiday House books.
One trick we tell parents to use is to read the whole sentence except for the last word or a key word and have their child fill it in, pointing to the word together as he or she says it. Eric Carle books are great for this (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? I see a ________ looking at me, etc.).
Maybe next summer I should work on writing books to fill in the gap!
There was a fantastic four book series by Kit Allen – each book was about the seasons and had one word on a page. Our son loved these books to death. Longjohns (winter) Swimsuit (Summer) etc.
http://www.amazon.com/Swimsuit-Kit-Allen/dp/0618263713/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417704789&sr=8-1&keywords=kit+allen
You should! I’ve thought of doing that myself. There surely is a need, if only I had a clever mind and could produce one.
If you do it librarians everywhere will sing your praises.
Having written a Random House Step Into Reading Step 1, I can say that they remain quite simple — no more than 32 characters in a line, no more than 2 lines on a page. No words more than 2 syllables, no contractions etc. Perhaps check these out? They tend to be simpler than most other step ones.
“Three Yellow Dogs” by Cohen. It’s an oldie but tried and true–witty and sweet and no child can fail with it. Unfortunately it’s a stand-alone.
My heart went out to the author of the article when I read that the Beginning Reader books at her library have to fit in a specific size shelving unit (for books 9”X6” – the typical size of a beginning reader book). I love the I Like to Read series! We have purchased all of them for our public library and I use that often with my son at home. When we first purchased them for our library, they were in the picture book section because of the size of the book (average 8” X 10”). But they are great books for kids just starting to read and we felt they were getting lost in the picture books. So we moved them to the beginning readers. Luckily our shelves are sized that they fit in with the traditional sized reader books. They are circulation very well and I have had parents ask if we have any more like them.
When it comes to other great series of books for kids who are just starting to read, I also like the Step into Reading, Step 1 books and the Green Light Readers, Level 1. Yes, these are the typical reader sized books.
I think it is important not to just look at the size and shape of a book to see where it would go in the collection. By putting the different sized books for beginning readers together, it encourages families and readers to think outside of the box. They don’t just have to read books that look a certain way or size. It has also helped us think about great picture books that are often overlooked when a child begins reading on his or her own. Titles like I Went Walking by Sue Williams and Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas are great as a read aloud and also great for kids just starting to read. Families can use picture books that have simple sentences as books for kids as they are starting to read as well. Having different shapes and sizes in the Beginning Reader section helps families to realize that.
We also started a Beginning Reader Non-Fiction section right next to the fiction beginning readers. We love the Pebbles Plus books which again, are not the usual beginning reader size.
Our beginning reader section may not look perfect with all the different sized books but I think we are providing a better collection to our community through this exploration into what is a good match for our beginning readers.
Thanks for this post. Great topic to get into. And I am so happy to see the I Like to Read series get some attention and praise!
The TINY series (Tiny Goes to the Library, Tiny Goes Camping …) by Cari Meister is superb. (Penguin) Each book in the series tells an actual story — often with humor — with generally one short sentence per page. My own kids learned to read with TINY’s BATH, and more recently taught their younger cousins to read on the TINY books. And, added bonus, they’re the right size!
ED AND TED AND TED’S DOG FRED by Andy Grifiths (he’s done a few other easy easy readers like it) blew my doors down. Easy, yes. Smart, funny, and genuinely enjoyable… Yup.
From a classroom teacher perspective I appreciate the trim size of Holiday House’s “I Like to Read” series (I also love the consistent use of the AvantGarde typeface).
For years my lowest readers spent their sustained silent reading time enjoying traditional 9×5 early readers (Biscuit, Seuss, Elephant and Piggie, etc), wordless picturebooks and the occasional easy reading picture book (your brown bears, chicka chickas, or something like I Want My Hat Back, but in a classroom library with 2000 picture books less than 50 nonwordless books met these students’ needs for independent reading. *Not that these students could not also choose to read any of the traditional (as you say lengthy) picture books but over time students do tend to gravitate towards comprehensible texts.
The “I Like to Read” Series is doing a great job providing true independent PICTURE BOOK reading experiences to readers who are just beginning to see the true joys of reading for their own solitary pleasure.