My kindergartner brought home "The Lion and the Mouse" from his school library today. While I checked his older brother's homework, I was surprised and delighted to hear him start reading the book on his own! He was able to recognize many of the simple words in the text, including "big, lion, mouse, the, and, net" and so on. He was so excited to be able to read (part of) a book all by himself!
Most of us are familiar with Aesop's wise fables. In this retelling by Gail Herman, today's young readers are introduced to a classic on their own terms. Short, easy to recognize words that they've seen in class bring the story to life for them. This book is an "Early Step into Reading for Preschool and Kindergarten" story, and it really delivers on that!
Lisa McCue drew the lovely illustrations. Cheerful colors and detailed animals engage a child's attention (and a parent's too!). The pictures correspond well to the text on that page, which helps your child sound out the words if he or she is having a little difficulty figuring out a few of them.
There is a note to parents just inside the book, advising you to read the story first, then let your child try on their own. Later, your child will be ready for the next steps in this reading series.
In large friendly letters, the last page states, "Always Help Others", which of course is the theme of the story. A great lesson! You never know when a good deed will be returned to you just when you need it most. You can talk about this theme with your little one as you read together.
This book is on an AR (Accelerated Reader) level of 0.7, and is worth 0.5 AR points if your school tests for this.
Gail Herman has published a myriad of other children's books on a variety of topics. I saw many listed on Epinions.com, or you could do a search elsewhere online for her other titles. I do wish the book had a little blurb about the author and illustrator, but no such information was there.
We were quite happy to share this story together tonight. My son took it with him when he went off to bed, so he could read it one more time! Got to go tuck him in now.
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