Like Dick and Jane, Ed and Fred provide a way to practice a boring but necessary beginning reading skill. It’s too bad their...
Bolger works hard to tell a story with just 59 words—something of a feat.
Unfortunately, the instructional goal and an untrustworthy narrator overshadow Ed and Fred’s misadventures. Orange Ed and purple Fred, vaguely bean-shaped cartoon creatures, act out the words of an omniscient narrator. Fred’s words are printed in speech bubbles, while Ed silently responds to the narrator’s prompts. By the eighth cartoon panel, Fred figures out this structure and speaks directly to the narrator. He grows increasingly unhappy to find himself the butt of the rather mean-spirited narrator’s jokes, not unlike the daisy-headed Daffy in the classic “Duck Amuck.” When he refuses to run while wearing a chicken suit, tigers and gorillas appear, and Fred gives in. Additional reading practice is provided when sight words are repeated as environmental print, including Fred’s sign reading, “I want OUT of this book.” Told “it was just a joke,” he responds with a sign that reads, “Well, it was not funny.” They seem to negotiate a truce but then: “POOF!” Fred is humiliated again. The list of sight words to practice is split between the beginning of the book and the endpapers, which may confuse young learners. Words not on the lists (“welcome,” “jungle,” “underpants”) depend on context clues.
Like Dick and Jane, Ed and Fred provide a way to practice a boring but necessary beginning reading skill. It’s too bad their narrator is not as nice as Dick and Jane’s. (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-228602-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2017
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Amusing, yes. Useful for reading practice, yes, but not necessarily guaranteed to make new readers the “read-i-est.” (Early...
Elephant and Piggie make an appearance to introduce the first in their new series, an egalitarian introduction to superlatives.
Each one of seven blades of talking grass—of a total of eight—discovers that it is superb at something: it’s tallest, curliest, silliest, and so forth. The humor aims to appeal to a broad spectrum. It is slightly disturbing that one being eaten by purple bugs is proud of being the crunchiest, but that will certainly appeal to a slice of the audience. The eighth blade of grass is grappling with a philosophical identity crisis; its name is Walt, a sly reference to Whitman's Leaves of Grass that will go right over the heads of beginning readers but may amuse astute parents or teachers. Tension builds with the approach of a lawn mower; the blades of grass lose their unique features when they are trimmed to equal heights. Mercifully, they are chopped off right above the eyes and can continue their silly banter. Departing from the image of a Whitman-esque free spirit, Walt now discovers he is the neatest. Lots of speech bubbles, repetition, and clear layout make this entry a useful addition to lessons on adjectives and superlatives while delivering a not-so-subtle message that everyone is good at something. Elephant and Piggie's final assertion that “this book is the FUNNIEST” doesn't necessarily make it so, however.
Amusing, yes. Useful for reading practice, yes, but not necessarily guaranteed to make new readers the “read-i-est.” (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-2635-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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