Monday, April 27, 2009

To consider - Emily Gravett books.




Last night my youngest daughter, who is in kindergarten right now and I read Monkey and Me, by Emily Gravett. I should say, she read it to me! This book has been a huge success since I was introduced to it by my friend at readingyear.blogspot.com. It has a fabulous repetitive phrase and the setting takes place at the zoo, which is my daughter's favorite place. As B and I were talking, we wondered if Emily Gravett had any more books we should read. B was quick to tell me that she must be the author and illustrator because there is only one name and two names would be one author and one illustrator.

Today I was in our school library and found Orange Pear Apple Bear. While this book was published in 2007, I think I will be discovering a whole bunch of "new to me" books since I've been focusing on the transitional reader in third grade. Emily Gravett takes just 5 words to write a simplistic yet important text for emerging readers. This book is perfect for readers who use the illustrations to help support their reading of the text. B read it through on the first time with such enjoyment. Then we reread it two more times in bed and had a quick discussion on the last page. The text says, "there!" and she read it as, "The End". She understands story structure and I tried to show her the words the, here, and there. Just modeling looking for something you know when you come to an unknown word. I will be looking and considering an Emily Gravett author tub for next year.

2 comments:

  1. I love that you're looking ahead and planning -- that's where the excitement will build -- focusing on all the wonderful things you can teach young ones about the ways stories are structured and the ways books are structured. Truly gifts that will last a lifetime!!

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  2. Thanks for the positive comments, I needed that!

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