LING AND TING: NOT EXACTLY THE SAME! By Grace Lin

I have been working to find new early chapter books for the transitional readers. As I have always noticed about transitional readers, they jump into complex chapter books too quickly and often get used to reading with minimal understanding. So building a collection of great books that are perfect for these readers is important.  We also have primary teachers who are always looking for great "chapter book" read alouds for their young students. Longer, more complex chapter books are often too long and difficult for students to hold onto over the time they take to read. Also, when we read aloud too many books that are well beyond students' independent reading levels, these become the books valued in the classroom and students are often hesitant to choose more appropriate books.

A new book that I just discovered (thanks to #titletalk hosted by @PaulWHankins and @donalybooks once a month on Twitter), is LING AND TING: NOT EXACTLY THE SAME by Grace Lin. I am a HUGE Grace Lin fan. I love her work--all of it.  and she spoke at our Dublin Literacy Conference a few years ago. So I was thrilled to see this early chapter book by Grace.

Ling and Ting are twins, but they are not exactly the same. This book is a collection of stories or "chapters" about these twins.  The chapters each stand alone, which I like. Each tells a different story.  But they also work together and connect in very clever ways.  This is perfect for young children who are new to chapter books.

Grace Lin understand the humor of students who are transitional readers so well. Each story in this book has a little punch of humor at the end--humor that 7 and 8 year olds will love!

I fell in love with Ling and Ting and hope that Grace Lin has already written several more books about these sisters. Not only are the text and chapter design supportive but the characters and storylines make for a great read for kids. This is the perfect kind of book for transitional readers and I hope to see many, many more.