A two book sampler.
One of the things that always gets me about Early Readers books is that a great many of them expect kids to have a fair grasp of multi-syllable and sight words. This isn’t exactly wrong, but it implies a level of reading skill that not all young readers have. And perhaps I am mildly biased in this as I work with children who have reading struggles, but it’s always bugged me.
Bakery is a three-syllable word and unless an early reader has been introduced to it a lot, they will not be able to read it. Also bread and fruit do not follow the rules.
Cam’s Walk
In general, Cam’s Walk by Margo Gates and illustrated by Sarah Jennings was alright. There was nothing to really feel blown away by, though. The story is simple and follows a boy and his father as they go on a walk through their neighborhood. They pass by a bakery and a library and even a park.
It’s a cute story that’s only mildly engaging. Colors are bright and illustrations are decent. Nothing about it really stands out to you though. And, as I mentioned above, I have a huge problem with the language used in it. Sure, this works for some kids but it definitely won’t work for all of them. Add in the fact that the story is kind of boring and I don’t know how many children are going to be eager to read this one.
Suburban Places
Okay, so Katie Peters’ Suburban Places is a little bit better. I think it does well educating on the subject at hand. But it’s rather boring. While it doesn’t fall into as many language issues, there are still a few that I found bothersome. I think I’d pick up this book before I were to pick up Cam’s Walk.
I don’t know how much I could say that teaching about suburbs is a great endeavor, though. There are so many more important topics than what features a suburb has. And, frankly, I have my own thoughts there that left me feeling uncomfortable.
Last Thoughts
In general, I’m not much of a fan of these two books. They’re not bad, but they definitely aren’t great either.
I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Reader Fox 