Gertie Gorilla's Glorious Gift

August 1, 2010

K-Gr 2-Each animal character and related adventure represents a letter of the alphabet. Eddie Elephant helps egg-sit for the Emu family. Frances Frog and Felicity Fox are friends even though they are opposites in many ways. And Gertie Gorilla drops her glorious birthday gift for Goat into the gulch. Kids will enjoy hearing each story as the alphaphonemic sounds are introduced. Alley's pen-and-ink drawings with soft watercolors capture the animals and their human characteristics in full-page illustrations, making the stories a delightful experience. Fans of Jane Belk Moncure's "New Sound Box Library" books (The Child's World) will appreciate a fresh spin on ways to introduce phonemes.-Sandra Welzenbach, Villarreal Elementary School, San Antonio, TX

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