Two Children’s Book Reviews-for my 2 year old neice
Book Review #1
Tyler Makes Pancakes
by: Tyler Florence
Illustrated by: Craig Frazier
5 Star Rating
Product Details
- ISBN-13: 9780062047526
- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
- Publication date: 4/24/2012
- Pages: 40
- Sales rank: 111,989
- Age range: 4 – 7 Years
- Product dimensions: 10.24
x 9.86 (h) x 0.42 (d)
1. It is a simple storyline that is easy to follow. Tyler wakes up from a dream wanting pancakes. He goes out to the market with his dog to purchase the ingredients, goes through the store with the owner to get all of them learning a little as he goes, and then goes home to make the pancakes.
2. The illustrations are simple and funny to look at.
3. The pace goes quickly with no more than about five sentences on each page. This is a must since I’ve noticed that some children’s books have too many words on a page and when the child wants the page turned, it goes whether you have finished reading the lines or not. If there are fewer words on each page, I tend to get through the story without making things up.
At the end of the story, the book comes with a recipe for the pancakes that Tyler makes. This may be fun for someone who wants to whip up a batch with the help of their child after reading it. I would caution that Tyler is the one that does everything, including the stove work, so you may want to explain that Tyler may have been allowed to touch the stove, but your child is not. Also, there is a cute section about fun facts. I did not get through that with my niece, but the adults enjoyed that part as we laughed about certain unknown aspects of pancake making. All together, it’s hard to find flaws with such a cute book. The only thing that may be an issue with a child that is getting a little older is that Tyler leaves the home to go to the market while his parents are sleeping, gets all of the items with no mention of money, and does all of the cooking himself. It’s safe to say that you don’t want your child following that example.
Book Review #2
Track that Scat
by: Lisa Morlock
Illustrated by: Carrie Anne Bradshaw
4 Star Review
Product Details
- ISBN-13: 9781585365364
- Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
- Publication date: 2/1/2012
- Pages: 32
- Sales rank: 285,255
- Age range: 6 – 10 Years
- Product dimensions: 10.10 x 10.10 (h) x 0.30 (d)
Overall, the rhyme is very cute to use with little ones, but the overall content won’t be understood by children until they are at least 4-5. The detailed information given about each animal is fairly complex. Each animal has an example of what the tracks look like, what their scat looks like, and some other information about them. For instance, Raccoon scat carries a parasite in it that infects humans and rabbits eat their scat when it first comes out but not the second time it comes out. There is a difference in texture between the first and second time it comes out. So, this book is very informative and overall, the rhymes are a lot of fun if you skip over the information aspect. It’s a little sing-song and can keep a smaller child’s attention. The shining moment for this book is the illustrations. They are beautiful! They are not extremely complex, but they are very cartoonish and fun. I enjoy flipping through the book without looking at anything. I almost want to pull out the picture of the hound dog from the beginning and use it as a picture to hang on my niece’s wall. They are just so adorable!
I didn’t give it 5 stars because the content was just too complex for a young audience. The information would definitely require extra explanation and time with a young one for them to understand. If the reader (assuming parent) wants to spend time investigating the information with their child, or waiting until the child is older, then this would be perfect for them.
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