Saturday Review: Books for Beginning Readers

I read a lot of books for this blog.  All the ladies at the circulation desk at the Greene County Library (bless their hearts!) know me by name.  Some books I don’t finish, but most are like that box of old worksheets and supplies left over from homeschooling days that I just might want to use sometime but I’m not sure how or when . . .

I read lots of books that are perfectly fine for kids but not outstanding enough (to my mind) or noteworthy enough to warrant an entire three-plus paragraph review.   Hence our new feature (anybody remember the old Saturday Review journal?), wherein, once or twice/month, I hope to gather up 3-5 titles and give them a paragraph each.  Or two, maybe.  This week, a quartet of books for beginning readers, award-winners all:

Tales for Very Picky Eaters, written and Illustrated by Josh Sneider.  Clarion, 2011, 42 pages.  Age/interest level: 4-7

Tales won the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award this year for “most distinguished beginning reader book.”  It hits kids where they live—in the stomach.  James is the picky eater.  When his father offers him broccoli for dinner, James pronounces it “disgusting” and asks is there’s anything else.  “Well, we have dirt,” says dad.  We have the finest dirt available at this time of the year, imported from the best dirt ranches in the country.  This dirt has been walked on by the most skilled chefs wearing the finest French boots . . .”  Needless to say, James goes with the broccoli, and further “tales” will help him get down the smelly lasagna, repulsive milk, lumpy oatmeal, and slimy eggs.  He doesn’t seem to have a mom; his father does all the cooking and tall-tale spinning, and James is either terribly gullible or a very good sport.  Let’s say he’s a good sport; otherwise Dad would be lying.  Clever pictures in pastel colors—kids will have fun with the soft-bone, non-milk-drinking, version of James.  The food wisdom is USDA conventional (I’m not a fan of milk), but it’s nice to see James chow down on some good old cholesterol-laden bacon and eggs.  The vocabulary seems a little advanced for beginning readers (broccoli? imported?), but the stories are engaging enough to make kids want to recognize those words.

I Want My Hat Back, written and illustrated by Jon Klassen.  Candlewick, 2011, 26 pages.  Age/interest level: 3-6.  A 2012 Geisel honor book.

“My hat is gone.  I want it back.”  Throughout the story, Bear asks a fox, a frog, a rabbit, a turtle, a snake, and a mole. And everybody gives a negative answer, in slightly different words.  But the rabbit’s answer is super-negative: “No.  Why are you asking me.  I haven’t seen it.  I haven’t seen any hats anywhere.  I would not steal a hat.  Don’t ask me any more questions.”  Sounds like he has something to hide, and the young reader will see immediately what it is.  Later, when Bear is asked a similar question, and likewise protests too much, the first- or second-grader has everything he needs to figure it out, and will enjoy making the connection.  Even though the story is about animals, it’s insightful about humans (who really do wear hats, and often protest too much).

I Broke My Trunk! An Elephant and Piggie book, written and illustrated by Mo Willems.  Hyperion, 2011, 57 pages.  Age/interest level: 3-6.  A 2012 Geisel honor book.

Elephant and Piggie are like Frog and Toad of yesteryear—friends with differences.  This story is told entirely in dialogue, large-typed and bubble-wrapped (i.e., speech balloons) and meant to answer the question, How did you break your trunk?  Elephant always has more to add to the story (“Two hippos, one rhino, and a piano on your trunk are very, very heavy.”)  and repetition helps young readers recognize the words.  They’ll like that, and the funny twist at the end.  It seems rather standard to me, but Willems has been in this business long enough to know what kids enjoy.

Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom, written and illustrated by Shane Evans.  Roaring Brook, 2011.  Age/interest level: 4-7.  Winner of the 2012 Coretta Scott King award for illustration.

“The darkness.”  “The escape.”  We are quiet.”  The story is quiet because it has to be.  It’s dark (visually) for the same reason.  A family is making its way from slavery to freedom with the help of lighted windows along the Underground Railway, and a noise or campfire could send them right back.  The brightest spots of the first few pages are the whites of their eyes, wide with fear and hope.  And the moon and stars, laying a pale path.  Sometimes the light is cruel, like the lantern held up by the slave catcher (“Some don’t make it”).  But finally, dawn breaks in strong rays over the horizon: “We are almost there.”  The light wakes weary sleepers to a new birth of freedom.  Little kids won’t understand much about the historical Underground Railway but the story can also be about following the light from spiritual darkness to freedom in Christ.  Shane would be okay with such an interpretation: he dedicates this book to God and its proceeds to the True Light (Nazarene) Church in downtown Kansas City.  For a preview, see the Book in Motion on his website.