Children's Chapter Book Review: Daisy's Perfect Word

Daisy's Perfect Word
Written by:  Sandra V. Feder
Illustrated by: Susan Mitchell
Published by: Kids Can Press, 2012
88 pages

from goodreads.com:
Daisy likes picking lemons on sunny days, playing kickball, and making long dandelion chains. But more than any of these things, she absolutely loves words.


* My daughter and I just finished reading this book together.  We have an almost daily ritual of reading together outside as we wait for her bus to come in the morning.  This book was really cute.  It's about a girl named Daisy who loves words.  She makes all different kinds of word lists.  When she discovers that her teacher is getting married and moving she wants to find the perfect word to give her.  This book is geared towards ages 7 and up and has lots of cute drawings throughout.  After reading a couple of chapters of this book I soon found my daughter creating word lists of her own.  As we read we took guesses as to what the perfect word for Ms. Goldner could be.  We were pleasantly surprised at the end.

Family Rating:  2 thumbs up!

Chapter Book Review: The Great Cake Mystery

The Great Cake Mystery:  Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case
Written by:  Alexander McCall Smith
Illustrated by:  Iain McIntosh
Published by:  Anchor Books, 2012

from amazon.com:
Have you ever said to yourself, Wouldn’t it be nice to be a detective?

This is the story of an African girl who says just that. Her name is Precious.

When a piece of cake goes missing from her classroom, a traditionally built young boy is tagged as the culprit. Precious, however, is not convinced. She sets out to find the real thief. Along the way she learns that your first guess isn’t always right. She also learns how to be a detective.


* I have read several books from Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Books.  When I found out that he was writing a children's chapter book I was very excited.

 I borrowed this book from the library.  My daughter and I have a tradition of taking turns reading from a chapter book while we wait for her bus to pick her up in the morning.  We'll sit on the steps and depending on how much time it took to get ready, sometimes we'll be able to read only one page and sometimes we'll read four or more pages.  So, it definitely takes us some time to get through a book, as was the case for this book.

My daughter has recently been interested in reading mysteries.  She's been borrowing a lot of the Cam Jansen books from her teacher to read.  So, I thought she'd enjoy this book.  Precious wants to discover who's been stealing everyone's sweets.  Everyone's blaming poor Poloko, but Precious believes his innocence and wants to prove it.  Taking place in Botswana, there are many illustrations throughout this chapter book.  I thought the story had some good lessons to be learned.  For readers there is a character guide at the end. For teachers there is a guide in the back with pre- and post- reading activities, discussion questions, and curriculum connections.  This was a mystery book that was refreshing and different than the normal "cookie-cutter" series types. 

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

Children's Chapter Book Review: The Beast in Ms. Rooney's Room

The Beast in Ms. Rooney's Room (The Kids of the Polk Street School #1)
Written and illustrated by: Patricia Reilly Giff
Published by: Yearling, 2008 (first published 1984)
80 pages

from goodreads.com:
It's September again.What does it mean for Richard "Beast" Best to be left back? It means being teased by his old friends while he's stuck facing the same old teacher in the same old classroom. He even has to take a special reading class with "babies" like Emily Arrow and Matthew Jackson. And just like last year, he can't help getting into trouble.But with the help of Mrs....moreIt's September again.What does it mean for Richard "Beast" Best to be left back? It means being teased by his old friends while he's stuck facing the same old teacher in the same old classroom. He even has to take a special reading class with "babies" like Emily Arrow and Matthew Jackson. And just like last year, he can't help getting into trouble.But with the help of Mrs. Paris, the reading teacher, Beast starts to enjoy reading and just might find a way to help the second grade win the school banner for best class.

* Although my almost six year-old daughter is on at least a third grade reading level she doesn't like reading chapter books that she can't read in one sitting.  To introduce her to some new books and series I've been reading chapter books with her.  Often we'll bring a chapter book outside while we sit on our front steps and wait for the bus in the morning.  I grew up reading The Kids of the Polk Street School series.  For me, it was a brand new series that was written.  For my daughter, the series is over 25 years old now!  In this first book in the series, Richard Best, a.k.a. "Beast" is left back in second grade.  He also has to attend a special reading class.  He wants to help his class win the school banner for being the best class of the week.  Of course lots of little things go wrong, but plenty of good things happen too like Richard making new friends and finally beginningto learn to read and spell.  I loved these books when I was about 8 or so.  Reading it again this time through with my daughter I wasn't that big of a fan.  However, she told me that she liked it.  We own book number two in the series from my school collection, so maybe she'll be motivated to continue the series.....on her own!

Family Rating:  1 thumb up.