AH HA!

 AH HA! by Jeff Mack is a perfect new book for readers who love to giggle while reading.  This fun book also provides some anticipation which will lead to predicting.  Frog loves to relax and declares his first relaxing moment with one word, AAHH!  The story begins with frog relaxing on a rock in the pond until a child scoops him up in a glass jar and the child's pet dog states, AH HA!  Frog escapes and dives back into the pond water declaring relaxation again and/or joy from escaping.  However, his relaxation doesn't last long when his landing spot is really the back of a turtle.  Frog continues to find new resting spots that aren't what they really seem to be.  The ending makes this book a circular tale.  When I began teaching circular tales were a book format/story structure we often talked about with primary learners.  Emergent readers get really excited discovering a story ends where it begins and quickly grasp the story could start all over again. It's a nice format for retelling.

I enjoy when authors are clever with their word choice and structure.  The whole story is told with just four letters; a, h, h, a.  Speech bubbles hold these four letters in a format of ah ha, aahh, or ha ha!  My students will be excited to revisit this book often.  While the text seems simple, it will require thinking about the story and understand how the letters are arranged for each page.