You Can Read

February 1, 2017

PreS-Gr 2-Sure, you can read in a classroom or a library, but think of all of the other places you can read. You can peruse a best seller in the park or while cooking in the kitchen. Or you can pore over a book when cruising in a rocket while in deep outer space. Why not read under the sea or by a campfire? This work is a great way to teach children that they can read in a variety of locations. It also shows how books can take them anywhere they want to go and on all kinds of exciting adventures. This is an extremely entertaining offering for young listeners and their adults. Some of the side-by-side pages are pairs or opposites that provide good opportunities for discussion. The fictional titles featured are quite humorous. For example, a cookbook is aptly named Just Try a Bite. There are also some hidden lessons on the pages. One such lesson focuses on proper etiquette and reading at the table. And when reading and walking down the street, watch where you walk or you might step in...YUCK! The illustrations and hand-lettering are done in a digital format that makes the pictures pop off the page and will capture readers' attention. Children will find it amusing that they can read on the toilet or in their underwear!

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2017
This book's title and cover, on which two kids tote heaps of books, will have librarians, teachers, and book mavens immediately reaching for it.However, the title is a bit deceiving, as the book is not a how-to for decoding words; instead, it's a paean to reading minus a plot. The device is a series of sentences beginning with the words "you can read..." followed by a list of various places. A nameless pale-skinned boy and brown-skinned girl demonstrate the many scenarios in which books can be read, proving you can read anywhere. Some of the locations are unremarkable, while others are fanciful: in the classroom, in the park, and under the covers will seem familiar, while in the desert, on the ocean floor, or in a rocket stretch the bounds of possibility. Some side-by-side pages depict a relationship, as when one child sits on the throne reading a book called The Time Taker while the other knocks on the locked door with legs crossed urgently, holding a copy of News Flush. Others add humor. Both a scenario in which a child reading while walking down the street results in a presumably poo-covered foot ("EEEW!") and another that depicts the little boy in his tighty whities are calibrated to elicit giggles. The stylized digital artwork with hand lettering fills the pages, giving the illustrations a somewhat posterlike quality. The titles of what the kids are reading comment on the activities depicted. Oddly, a library is not listed as a place to read. This will pair nicely with other books about the pleasures of reading and can be used to invite a conversation with kids. As a representative of the "reading is awesome" genre, this offers a fairly witty alternative to the often drearily earnest run of the mill. (Picture book. 4-8)

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