Thursday Book Rec: Wet Pet

I am a book addict. It's just that simple. I will steal minutes to read "just one more line" and hide out in strange places like my closet to get it in before the kids discover I'm missing. The good thing is, I've got them hooked, too, and believe me, there's no greater feeling than suddenly noticing they're suspiciously quiet, only to happen upon them innocently absorbed in a book on the floor (and your favorite Sharpie is still where you left it).

Here's what we're reading this week:

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As I mentioned before, I'm teaching the four-year-old to read and she's doing quite well. We're almost all done her sight word flashcards, (although I have a feeling I'll need to make a few more) and we're at the stage where she's can recognize some words in the "Easy Reader" books (those are air quotes, by the way) so she's reading them to me. Mostly,

So about the "air quotes", Pfft!!! Shyeah! They famously claim they're meant for beginners but have so many words and so many new words in them, it's impossible for kids to read much without a lot of help, which I find is discouraging to them and frustrating for me. Which is why I love this week's book. 

It's called "Flip-A-Word: Wet Pet" by Harriet Ziefert and hats off to Yukiko Kido for being an awesome illustrator. The bright, vivid colors and contrasts in the book are what drew my eyes to it in the first place- don't believe the hype, definitely judge a book by it's cover cuz it's insides are probably pretty great. Speaking of which and saving the best for last, there are die-cut pages that add to the appeal (yes, that was me squealing) and actually make your little one want to flip through. This book is the best kind of visual overload there is.

My daughter read this to me today and I could tell she was happy to figure the words out on her own. I'm sure it had everything to do with the fact that the author keeps it amazingly simple and introduces sounds as word families, "et", "ed", and "am" in this book, creating an easy-to-follow-and-learn pattern. Lucky for me, there's a whole series I can't wait to get my hands on. Off to clean out the stacks...