Category Archives: Reviews

Review: Max Finds an Egg

The Basics

maxfindsanegg
Title: Max Finds an Egg
Author: Wiley Blevins
ISBN: 9780448479941
Copyright Date: 2015
Publisher: Penguin Group/Penguin Random House
Reader Imprint: Penguin Young Readers
Level: Level 1 Emergent Reader
Series: Max (Max Has a Fish)

Thoughts

Max finds an egg and immediately begins waiting for what he thinks is a dinosaur to come out. He takes care of the egg, but when the egg finally hatches, Max does not get a dinosaur. But what he does get is a new friend.

This is a simple story with very basic vocabulary. The hardest words are “dinosaur” and “chicken” where the images give enough context clues for the reader to sound out those words. Max’s eyes are very dynamic and help convey the storyline for beginning readers.

This is a Fountas & Pinnell level C and it will be a good addition to libraries looking for the low-end of beginning readers.

Review: Pinkalicious Cherry Blossom

The Basics

pinkaliciouscherryblossom
Title: Pinkalicious Cherry Blossom
Author: Victoria Kann
ISBN: 9780062245939
Copyright Date: 2015
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reader Brand: I Can Read
Level: Level 1 Beginning Reading
Series: Pinkalicious (Pink Around the Rink, Pinkalicious and the Cupcake Calamity, Pinkalicious and the Pink Parakeet, Pinkalicious and the Pinkatastic Zoo Day, Pink-a-rama, The Pinkerrific Playdate, Pinkie Promise, The Princess of Pink Slumber Party, Puptastic!, School Rules!, Soccer Star)

Thoughts

Pinkalicious has been waiting for the cherry blossom festival so she can fly her kite. But when she has trouble getting her kite off the ground, will anyone help her?

I like to think of Pinkalicious as magical realism for beginning readers. After all, the original Pinkalicious story involves the protagonist turning pink after eating too many cupcakes. So I wasn’t surprised to read (in my first Pinkalicious reader!) a little magical transportation to Japan.

I was happy to see some diversity in Pinkalicious’s world, but the illustrations struck me as being on the smallest end of diversity. The Japanese characters look very much like Pinkalicious and her family except that they have slanted eyes and darker hair.

The text itself isn’t too difficult with its short sentences. Readers may stumble over some of the more difficult words like “festival” and “pinktastic”, and I expect that most will have trouble with the Japanese words “Sakura” and “mochi”. This is a Guided Reading Level J and a Lexile level 210.

A purchase for libraries who have Pinkalicious fan bases.

Review: Little Lucy

The Basics

littlelucy
Title: Little Lucy
Author: Ilene Cooper
ISBN: 9781448764334
Copyright Date: 2011
Publisher: Random House
Reader Brand: Step Into Reading
Level: Step 3 Reading On Your Own
Series: Little Lucy (Little Lucy Goes to School)

Thoughts

Lucy and her family go for a visit to the lake one day. But when Lucy’s family ties her leash to a tree, they never imagine that she would break free and have an adventure on her own. Can Lucy find her way back to her family?

This is a much longer reader and I really like the description that they use on the book: “Reading On Your Own, Grades 1-3. Is your child comfortable tackling new words? Does your child like to read on his or her own? It’s time for Step 3.” That’s a great help to both parents and librarians to judge whether or not the book is appropriate for a specific reader.

Lucy is a sweet character who can get into some mischief! Being a dog lover myself, I found it easy to sink into Lucy’s story and I look forward to reading more Lucy readers.

Recommended for libraries who need higher-level readers or libraries with lots of dog lovers!

Review: Grace

The Basics

grace
Title: Grace
Author: Kate Parkinson
ISBN: 9780823432073
Copyright Date: 2015
Publisher: Holiday House
Reader Brand: I Like to Read
Level: N/A
Series: N/A

Thoughts

Grace wants very much to be a ballerina, but just isn’t making the cut. When the other girls tell Grace to give up, she figures out a plan to stay involved in the ballet and to keep dancing.

The “I Like to Read” series are formatted very much like a picture book. Their font is definitely beginning reader sized though and encourages a child to read on their own. I like this series for that reason — for kids who are wary to try a new format but still need that beginning reader support.

Grace’s story is very simple and easy for a child to understand. Once Grace leaves the ballet, she draws a picture to feel better. She begins to realize that maybe her efforts are better served as a set designer and that she can continue dancing on her own, in her own way.

While I liked the story’s idea of being able to try something else if your original plan doesn’t work, I didn’t feel that the page spreads of Grace trying really gave readers a full picture of how Grace was feeling. (And I know it’s hard to convey all that in a reader, I know!) Maybe if I had known that Grace was frustrated with her dancing, I would have bought into the storyline more. Overall, I just felt Grace was sad the whole time and even a bit bullied by her classmates.

Still, this is definitely a beginning reader that will work for most collections.

Review: Pig and Pug

The Basics

pigandpug
Title: Pig and Pug
Author: Laura Marchesani and Zenaides A. Medina Jr.
ISBN: 9780448483436
Copyright Date: 2015
Publisher: Penguin Group/Penguin Random House
Reader Brand: Penguin Young Readers
Level: Level 2 Progressing Reader
Series: N/A

Thoughts

Pig is the only pig on his farm. All the cows and chickens and sheep have friends to be with…but not Pig. That is until Pug arrives. All the other animals think that Pug is a pig. But can Pig and Pug learn to be friends?

First of all, I have to say how much I’m in love with the illustrations of this book. They are spot-on and so child friendly. The artist really uses the space in a perfect beginning reader. And Pig and Pug look just enough alike that it makes sense that the other animals think they are the same.

There are a lot of nicely built vocabulary opportunities and chances for readers to gain confidence as words are repeated. I felt like it was a fairly good balance; although the beginning of the book is more wordy which may turn off struggling readers or reluctant readers. I think the story is worth it though!

Penguin Young Readers books are leveled using Fountas and Pinnell and “Pig and Pug” is at an F level. (I really like that the books state this on the back on the cover — a good tip for librarians to remember if their patrons are looking for this specific leveling system!)

Overall, this is a recommended reader for all collections. I hope to see more of this happy duo soon!

Review: Tug the Pup

The Basics

tugthepup
Title: Learn to Read with Tug the Pup and Friends (Box Set 1, 2, & 3)
Author: Dr. Julie M. Wood
ISBN: 9780062266897, 9780062266910,
Copyright Date: 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reader Brand: I Can Read!
Level: My Very First
Series: So far, only the three reviewed here.

Thoughts

Box Set 1
Tug the Pup and his friends (Big Pig, Nat the Cat, and Pen Hen) have a variety of adventures ranging from what they like to do each day to catching fireflies to having a birthday party in the first box set.

Each book is numbered and if a child were to read them in order, they get progressively harder. Book one has sentences like “Big Pig can jump.”; book five has “This is Little Blue Farm.”; and book ten has “Zzzzz. Pen Hen is taking a nap.” The first four books each contain six simple sentences, while the later books range from eleven to sixteen sentences. (And yes, I am counting “Zzzzz.” as a sentence since it contains a period.

Box Set 2

In Box Set 2, there is an excellent book that talks specifically about rhyming: “Book 3: Rhyme Time” — that’s a great thing for children learning to read to practice. By the end of Box Set 2, Tug the Pup has gained a new friend, Sally the Snake. Book eleven has the highest sentence count at seventeen sentences and things are getting more complex with dialogue between the characters and higher difficulty in words.

Box Set 3

In Box Set 3, Tug the Pup has even more friends in these books: Crab, Dotty Duck, Sly Fox, Scram the Skunk, etc. Book eleven has the highest sentence count at thirty-two sentences, with a lot of complex dialogue and difficulty. At this point, the text has almost out-grown the tiny pages!

General

These books are a great addition to the beginning reader field. What makes these books special in my opinion are the parent guides (book twelve in each set). They have information on Common Core Standards, which I know is a great help to many of my patron parents. Also to note: the guide contains activities to complete before, during, and after reading. A cute incentive for parents who will be buying these books — they also have stickers inside to place in each book once the reader has mastered it. I took those out in the library’s editions.

Another added bonus for parents looking for guidance is that these books come already leveled under Guided Reading Levels. The first set is Levels A-C, the second set is C-E, and the third set is E-G. It’s perfect for parents who know their child’s level and for librarians who often hear, “My child is a B level. What should they read?”

All in all, I give Tug the Pup two very enthusiastic thumbs up! Highly recommended.

Review: Splat the Cat & the Hotshot

The Basics

splatthecathotshot
Title: Splat the Cat and the Hotshot
Author: Laura Driscoll (based on the books by Rob Scotton)
ISBN: 9780062294166
Copyright Date: 2015
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Reader Brand: I Can Read!
Level: Level 1 Beginning Reading
Series: Splat the Cat (Splat the Cat Makes Dad Glad, Splat the Cat Up In the Air at the Fair, Splat the Cat Blow Snow Blow, Splat the Cat A Whale of a Tale, Splat the Cat With a Bang and a Clang, Splat the Cat The Rain is a Pain, Splat the Cat The Name of the Game, Splat the Cat Takes the Cake, Splat the Cat and the Duck With No Quack, Splat the Cat Good Night Sleep Tight, Splat the Cat Sings Flat)

Thoughts

Splat the Cat is feeling upstaged when a new friend has all the answers at cat scouts. But when the new cat can’t fix a problem, Splat finds that he had talents of his own! The book’s ultimate message is about teamwork.

As with each book in the series, readers are working on a particular sound — “ot” in this case (Scott/Mott/lot/spot/knot/pot/forgot/hot/apricots/spot/rot/not/swat) — which gives readers time to work on their rhyming words. [Some of those may not rhyme depending on your geographical accent.]

The Splat books are a great “bridging” up book for children who loved the Splat the Cat picture books. They will be thrilled when they are able to read a Splat book all on their own. For me, personally, the Splat books leave me feeling a little underwhelmed (to be fair, the picture books also do). Sometimes the rhymes seem a bit forced and some of the words can be difficult for what I consider a “Level 1” reader to be.

Overall, the series is still hugely popular at my library and I will continue to connect kids to the Splat books and to purchase the readers. Recommended for libraries with cat fanatics or Splat fans.

Review: Loud Louie

The Basics

loudlouie
Title: Loud Louie
Author: Sheila Sweeny Higginson
ISBN: 9781423164562
Copyright Date: 2013
Publisher: Disney Press, Disney/Hyperion
Reader Brand: World of Reading
Level: Level Pre-1
Series: Doc McStuffins (All Stuffed Up, Blame It On the Rain, Brave Dragon, Brontosaurus Breath, Caught Blue-Handed, Starry Starry Night)

Thoughts

There are a lot of pluses with a beginning reader series based on a popular franchise. Children are already familiar with phrases (“Toys, go stuffed”) and words/names (Hallie, Stuffy, stethoscope, tweezers). Children are more motivated to read a new story with their favorite character.

There are reasons I really like Doc McStuffins as a franchise. Doc is a girl of color just being a little girl which is important in my diverse community. Doc is also a pioneer of STEAM! She’s using science and solving problems on her own without the help of an adult, although her mother (a doctor) is obviously a role model.

This beginning reader series has rebus pictures embedded in the text. Most of the words substituted are names for characters. I did find it a little bit strange that the word “bed” was one of the rebus words while harder words like telephone were not. (Also, telephone and cell phone were used interchangeably.)

All in all, I felt that this reader was a solid addition to the series. A definite purchase for communities with Doc fans.

Review: Penny and Her Doll

The Basics

pennyandherdoll
Title: Penny and Her Doll
Author: Kevin Henkes
ISBN: 9780062081995
Copyright Date: 2012
Publisher: Greenwillow Books, HarperCollins Publishers
Reader Brand: I Can Read!
Level: Level 1 Beginning Reading
Series: Penny (Penny and Her Marble, Penny and Her Song)

Thoughts

Gram has sent Penny a doll. Penny loves her new doll, but struggles to figure out her new doll’s name.

Penny is great little character (true confessions: I have a stuffed Penny that I love to pieces), and I’m fearful that we may have seen the end of her since Penny and Her Marble was published nearly two years ago.

What works so wonderfully in the Penny series, in my opinion, are Henkes’s illustrations. His mice are so expressive that I even detect a hint of a side-eye from Mama when talk about her favorite weed. (Spoiler alert: Mama does not have a favorite weed.) It’s such a great asset to aide comprehension since the word difficulty is higher.

The book is told in three chapters which makes it more than manageable for a reader to do a chapter a night, or would even work as a family read-aloud. Definitely a recommended purchase for all libraries; please write/publish more Penny books!

Review: Meet the Dinotrux

The Basics

meetthedinotrux
Title: Meet the Dinotrux
Author: Chris Gall
ISBN: 9780316400640
Copyright Date: 2015
Publisher: Little Brown and Company, Hachette Books
Reader Brand: Passport to Reading
Level: Level 1 Reading Together
Series: Dinotrux (Dinotrux Go to School)

Thoughts

The Dinotrux world (originally picture) has expanded to begin to include beginning readers! This second volume follows all the Dinotrux as they band together to create a bridge to visit one another. Dinosaurs and transportation — do I need to say anything more to get preschool boys to pick this series up?

At the beginning of the book, a “Guide to the Dinotrux” is printed that includes both pictures and phonetic pronunciations of the Dinotrux. This is great for beginning readers to work on sounding on the Dinotrux’s names even though fans of the picture books will likely be familiar with how they are pronounced. The text is definitely large enough for readers to feel comfortable. Most of the text is above the pictures, on a white background and I think that will also help beginning readers.

The storyline is fairly predictable, which is perfect for this age group. But I’m still going to agree with Passport to Reading‘s assessment that this book is a beginning reader best shared with an older sibling or parent. Recommended.