Books for Beginning Readers: Spring 2023

Lots of brand-new books for beginning readers have come out recently. Here are some quick reviews of some easy readers and early chapter books. 

First up are two really fun nostalgic books that parents of a certain age (ahem, my age), will definitely appreciate. Flashback to the...Awesome '80s! and Flashback to the... Fly '90s! are both written by Patty Michaels and illustrated by Sarah Rebar. Using the slang of their respective time periods, each of these Level 2 Ready-to-Read books describes the pop culture of these decades, including food, fashion, music, communication devices and fads. Having lived through most of the 80s and all of the 90s, I was particularly amused by what the author chose to represent each decade. But I also appreciate having titles like this to spark conversations with my kids, some of whom are utterly fascinated by having parents "from another century." I don't like to think about the fact that elementary kids might be doing history reports on my childhood years, but these would be good for that as well.  

The next two books are science-oriented. Dirt and Bugsy: Bug Catchers written by Megan Litwin and illustrated by Shauna Lynn Panczyszyn is about two little boys who love to catch insects. When it rains during their bug collecting, they brainstorm ways to keep the bugs dry. This is a Level 2 book in the Penguin Young Readers  easy reader series, but it's quite a bit easier to read than the titles mentioned above. It has a lot of repetition and short sentences to help support new readers, but the engaging plot and colorful illustrations keep the repetitions from becoming boring. The Night Sky written by Marion Dane Bauer and illustrated by John Wallace is a nonfiction Level 1 Ready-to-Read book. It explains what we can see in the sky at night, how the stars and other bodies looked to groups throughout history, and finishes with other phenomena that occur in the sky, such as the Northern Lights. It's well-written and colorfully illustrated and has captured the attention of my 3-year-old son. 

The last easy reader on my list is Elena Rides by Juana Medina. I have found this author's books lacking in the past, and this one isn't really different. Elena the elephant wants to ride a bike. At first she finds it difficult, but she perserveres and figures it out. This is the plot of most books about learning to ride a two-wheeler and there is nothing in this book that adds more to that basic framework. It's fine for kids to practice reading with, but possibly not the most engaging title. 

Kicking off my list of beginning chapter books are two titles in the Isla of Adventure series: Welcome to The Island and The Secret Cabana both written by Dela Costa and illustrated by Ana Sebastian.  Isla lives on the island of Sol, and she is able to speak to and understand the speech of animals. Her best friend is a gecko named Fitz, but when a new family moves into the neighborhood in book one, she thinks it would be nice to have a human friend, too. Isla is afraid the new girl will be too perfect and tidy to have adventures with her. The ensuing plot is a "city mouse/country mouse" type story where the girls work to find common ground. The second book sees both girls trying to track down the source of some mysterious music, which they think might be a mermaid. Strange as it sounds, I found the font in these books to be very off-putting. Coupling the odd look of the pages with writing that is much more "tell" than "show" and dialogue that feels unnaturally stilted, I couldn't really settle in and enjoy them. 

Shermy & Shake, The Not-so-Nice Neighbor written by Kirby Larson and illustrated by Shinji Fujioka is another book about an unlikely pair of friends. Shermy is a reader and a collector of interesting objects. His quiet well-ordered life is turned on its head when active, imaginative, and freewheeling Shake comes to stay with his grandmother and Shermy's neighbor, Mrs. Brown, for the summer. At first it seems these two boys are totally mismatched, but as the adults force them to spend time together, a friendship begins to grow. The plot of this book has been done many times before, but Kirby Larson's writing elevates this title beyond many of the others. I appreciated reading a children's book that was truly for and about children, with no hints of politics or other agendas, and I loved the character development. This one is probably on a third or fourth grade level, compared with the other chapter books here, which are a bit easier than that. 

The Giants' Farm written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Tomie dePaola was originally published in 1977 and has been redesigned for the new generation as part of Aladdin's "Quix Fast-Fun-Reads" series. The story follows five giants - Grizzle, Dazzle, Grab, Grub, and Little Dab - as they undertake the task of building and operating a farm.  The font in this one is distracting like the font in the Isla of Adventure books, only this time the distraction is down to bolded words and words of different sizes. I felt like my eyes didn't know where to look. Still, as I would expect from Jane Yolen, the writing is excellent - fun and kid-friendly, but with dashes of interesting vocabulary and lots of humor. DePaola's illustrations are in that same style everyone recognizes, but they work with Yolen's writing to maintain a sense of warmth throughout the book. There is also a section at the back of the book that includes recipes mentioned in the story and a glossary for new words. I could do without these, personally, but they seem to be a standard feature of this particular series. 

Finally, my last beginning chapter book is Bear and Bird: The Picnic and Other Stories by Jarvis. This is another book about friendship between characters who are opposites, but more on the order of the Elephant and Piggie books or the Poppleton series. In each of the stories in this collection, there is some miscommunication, or other problem that provokes a partcular interaction between the characters, whether that is a silly rescue mission when Bird gets stuck in a flower or an outburst at art class when Bear proves to be the more skilled painter. The tone of the stories is very sweet, and overall the book has a classic feel. The artwork by Jarvis is very gentle and welcoming as well, making this a good pick for kids who transition into chapter books while still very young.