Ready, Set, Skip!

by Jane O'Connor, Ann James (Illustrations)

I can’t skip. I wish I could. Other kids are really good. This little girl can leap, creep, twirl, skate, burp, slurp, and do all the other things kids love to do—except skip! But with the help of a clever suggestion from her mom, she soon finds herself skipping all the way to school. Ann James’s droll illustrations perfectly complement New York Times bestselling author Jane O’Connor’s irresistible rhymes. Ready, Set, Skip! is an upbeat, lively read-aloud about learning that what you think you can’t do may only be a hop, skip, and a jump away!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Storytime, Plays

32 pages, Hardcover

First published May 17, 2007

About the author

Since the publication of Fancy Nancy, Jane O'Connor's closet now boasts so many boas, tiaras, and sparkly ensembles that sometimes friends do not recognize her on the street. She still resides (that's a fancy word for lives) in New York City with her family and their canine companion, Arrow. --from the publisher's website

Reviews

[La Coccinelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cute little book! I'm familiar with Jane O'Connor because of her Fancy Nancy books. I'd never heard of Ready, Set, Skip!, but I'm glad I picked it up when I saw it because it's absolutely adorable.

The little girl can do all sorts of things: leap, creep, twirl, skate... But can she skip? No. Or so she thinks. Luckily, she's got a patient mom to show her just how to do it, and by breaking it down into easy steps, mom's got her skipping in no time!

The rhyming text is really sweet, and I kind of love the illustrations. The girl is so childlike, and though the illustrations aren't photorealistic, they perfectly capture the movement and personality of the child.

It's a simple story, but I can see this being a favourite read-aloud title. It has just the right balance of fun text and cute pictures.

Quotable moment:

[Jasmine from How Useful It Is · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read twice for my kid. He loves it. Read normal first time and word for word second time. He asks to read again!

[Douglas Beagley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this twice last night. Three times the night before.

The best thing about this book is the feet. I grew up with barefoot summers. And if you are a child, and you spend all day barefoot, then each day you will develop a nice thick, dark coating on the bottoms of your feet. If you skip bath, the muck remains, building day-by-day. You can sit down and peel it off, for fun. After it rains, the dirt might get rubbed off as you shuffle across the wet grass.

I never even thought this was gross or unusual--just how things were in the summer: The bottoms of your feet sometimes grow a brown layer. This book depicts this-- and it's not a point of the book or mentioned in the text, you just might notice it. Or you might not.

There are a number of other nice touches by the artist-- the way the neighborhood feels or the school looks-- the art is unsentimental, with a color and form that evokes something closer to reality. Dingy, but also light-hearted.

[Michelle Colar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grade Range: Pr-k-2nd
Genre: Fiction

This was such a cute kid's book. The illustrations are very detail was really nice to go about the story with them. It was a simple read and super fun. I like how the book goes along showing things she's mastered , but not skipping. The ending is cute because she learns how to skip and skips to school.

[Lacy | literary_lacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about a girl that can’t skip. She does all kinds of other fun activities, but no one has taught her how to skip, until the end of the book when her mom shows her how! My daughter started jumping around trying to skip after we finished this book!

[Michelle Farella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every child needs to learn how to skip sometime ;-)

[Barbara Thorp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very cute, not-too-long story time book.

[Aarvik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice read!

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

i like the rhyming and how interactive it can be

[Alexis Waltemeyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This single poem picture book is about a young girl who has troubling skipping. She wants to do it like all the other children in her school. The book starts off saying she wishes she could skip and how other children are really good. Then she states all the things she can do throughout the middle of the book. Such as leaping and creeping. How she is a soda-straw slurper and a champion burper. Then the mother asks her if she can hop on one foot and then the other and she tells her daughter that that action is skipping and she learns how to skip. At the end of the book she beats her mother in skipping and says she will skip to school tomorrow.

I believe this book is appropriate for the primary age group. It uses words that are not hard to understand, but I do not believe a child in the nursery age would be able to comprehend it. The content is interesting and would be understandable by this age group.

This book is colorful but realistic. The design is real and the lines are definite. This book uses poetic devices to enhance meaning and helps readers understand the mood and subject.

I would recommend this book. I believe that a child in the primary age group is still finding out things about themselves that he/she did not know before. So with that in mind, this book would prove to young children that they may be able to do something that they did not think was possible, with a little help from a teacher.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Ready, Set, Skip" by Jane O'Connor was a great read...it's a great book for kids and teaches them a great lesson...that just because you can't do one thing good doesn't mean you can't do a lot of other things great...the main character of this novel thinks it's the worst thing that she can't skip...she thinks it's the worst thing ever, but, then, she starts looking at things she can do, and, eventually learns that, to skip, isn't as hard as she thought.
As a parent, I really like this book and will probably keep it on my daughter's bookshelf for a long time. I want her to grow up knowing that she shouldn't be down on herself just because she can't do something. If she just starts focusing on what she can do, and puts a little effort toward what she can't, she'll find that she just might be able to succeed after all.
I give it 5 stars.

[Amy Seto · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little girl is concerned because she can’t skip. She can leap and twirl, whistle and creep, but not skip. “Wait, can you hop?” says her mother. After her mother teaches her to hop on one foot and then the other, the little girl skips faster and faster. The next day she and her mother skip all the way to school.

The rhyming text is full of movement words, great for toddlers and preschoolers who love to get up and move during storytime. The illustrations communicate the large range of movements with loose, sketchy lines and washes of yellow, blue, and green. Kids and parents alike will be cheering the little girl on as she masters this new skill. The look of pride on her face when she finally gets her feet coordinated is priceless.

Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2...

[Victoria Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Ready, Set, SKIP" by Jane O'Connor, with illustrations by Ann James, is a quirky rhyming chldren's book that shows how anyone can do almost anything if they try hard enough and have the right teacher. Since some of the self-talk dialogue is written with pictures to reinforce the answers, the young girl featured uses, she comes across as independent and intelligent. Her daring-do and persistent attitude won me over and I admired her and this book greatly for its positive message.

[McKenna Crimmins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was really cute and related to a lot of real things. As a student, you may be really good at certain things, but unless you try new things and practice, you won't ever know how good you might be at them. To me, it related to sports and tricks. You never what you can do until your try. There was a lot of rhyming and lots of fun words. The pictures were very cute and colorful and explained the words very well. I liked this book.

[Gwen the Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can you skip? The little girl in this picture book does not know how to skip. She can do lots of other cool things - she can twirl, skate, blow bubbles, and is a terrific whistler. Mom says, "If you can hop, you can skip!" Mom is a great skipper and soon she teaches her daughter how it's done. If you don't know how to skip, and even if you do, you will enjoy this book!

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this book! Every child struggles with mastering some skill (skipping, snapping, tieing shoes). This book points up just how much the child CAN do, while simply showing her how to master the skill of skipping. Good rhymes. Lots of action words. Fun for storytime.

[Tasasha Battle]

This book is about a little girl that finds that she cannot do things that other kids can. However she discovers that she can hop and skip. So she skips all the way to school with her mother. This book is told through rhymes and this can give students the chance to practice writing in rhyme.

[Literacy Group · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little girl demonstrates that she is able to do many things. She can creep, leap, whistle, and blow bubbles. But she can't skip! One day her mother teaches her how to skip by showing her that if she can hop, she can skip. In the end, she skips all the way to school.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason, I really didn't like the illustrations in this book. Although they weren't, I felt there was something amateurish about them. On that note, the lesson in this story was perfect: Perseverance, practice and teaching will help lead the way. What a great lesson for our kids.

[Mehjabeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The rhyme and actions in the story make for a fun story. Probably not the best book though for bedtime, kids (and parents!) may find it energizes them a tad too much rather than help drift into a good night's sleep. :)

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was pretty good -- a person may not always do everything well, and practice makes perfect were the underlying themes. I wasn't always loving the text, though. And I did not like the illustrations much at all.

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just waiting to be used in a movement program!

[Marge]

She can do a lot of things but doesn't thingk she can skip - hop on one foot than another

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can relate. I didn't learn how to skip until kindergarten gym. World's most non-athletic kid. If only someone had used the "just hop on one foot at a time description."

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

a young girl is convinced she can't skip, but she does other things well (crawling, burping etc),until Mom teaches her how. turns out Mom is good at skipping, even if she is old.

[Aby]

Read twice. (August 9, 2009)

[Aspasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little girl learns to skip from the best teacher ever- her mom.

[Jenny Forgay]

Haven't we all struggled with learning something new? This sweet book will be great to show students that you can always do something if you just keep trying.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like reading this book to younger children because it shows them that if you can't do something a little hard work can make it happen.

[Ngoc Dang · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay book for me. The girl learned how to skip.I guess when children are trying to learn new things they are afraid to try because they don't want to fail.