Monday, December 22, 2008

GREAT NEW ALPHABET BOOK!

I just picked up HOW TO BUILD AN A by Sara Midda. What a great book! It is a must have for preschool-grade 1 classrooms and it would also make a great gift for a young child.

The book is red, small and square. Very inviting for small hands. Each spread has simple text on the left side with an illustration on the right side. For example "F is for flower". The font is PERFECT for children just making sense of text. It is large with space between the words. There are no fancy/crazy letters. (I checked the "a" to make sure!) And because the pattern of text is the same on each page, it will be one that kids will begin to read on their own. The illustrations are stunning yet simple. Great art but also easy for kids to use as clues when reading.

Below each sentence of text, is an illustration of a child is "building" the letter. And the fun of this is that the book comes with all of the blocks necessary to build every letter so children can build along on every page! With a nice netted bag to store them in.

Really, this book has it all. Great illustrations, patterned text, a perfect font, and a way for kids to build along with the book. I can see kids using this in different ways for years as they grow as readers.

3 comments:

  1. WOW! This reminds me of what my son is doing in kindergarten. I just may have to track down this book! I think he would love it. Thanks for the recommendation.

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  2. I need to find this book. I have a group of kindergarten friends I do intervention with every day- four little guys that I think will love this!
    Carol

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  3. I bought this book for my 3 year old at the school book fair. I knew he would love it. We haven't explored it yet because he has so many other new toys he is fascinated with but I am waiting for the right moment to show him how it works. I agree it is a wonderful design and delightful to read.

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