Title: Read Anything Good Lately?
Author: Allen, Susan and Jane Lindaman
Illustrator: Vicky Enright
Genre: Concept book, Alphabet Book
Theme(s): Alphabet, Family, Cooperation
Opening line/sentence: “Read anything good lately?”
Brief Book Summary: The main character tells the reader everything she reads and where she reads these stories. Starting with the beginning of the alphabet all the way to the letter Z. At the end of the story she shares with the reader other kinds of reading and asks questions that engage the reader.
Professional Recommendation/Review #1:
Allen, Susan and Lindaman, Jane Read Anything Good Lately?
32 pp. Lerner/Millbrook (Lerner Publishing Group) 2003. ISBN 0-7613-1889-5 LE ISBN 0-7613-2322-8 (3) K-3 Illustrated by Vicky Enright. The authors use the abecedarian format to pen a literary anthem to the act of reading anything, anywhere, anytime. How about a comic book around the campfire, for example, or a tall tale in a tree house? The enthusiastic text is accompanied by spunky line and watercolor paintings.
(The Horn Book Guide Online)
Professional Recommendation/Review #2:
Kirkus Reviews
A child's question prompts another's alphabetic reverie in this invitation to consider the many things and places to read: an atlas at the airport, a biography in bed, a gossip magazine in the grocery line, and on up to a zodiac (i.e., horoscope) at the zoo. The authors give non-paper media a nod, too, with information on the Internet, and leave the exercise open-ended with a closing list of additional types of reading material for readers to match with locations. In page-sized cartoons, Enright follows her smiling young bookworm from place to place, showing her reading alone and with company, indoors and out, up a tree, even in a Jacuzzi. Serving as a reminder to parents too, that reading opportunities are all around, this presents an engaging literary game likely to continue well beyond one pass through the ABCs. (Picture book. 5-7)
(CLCD)
Response to Two Professional Reviews:
The two professional reviews both relate to the text in a positive way and enjoy the enthusiasm it holds. They quote the actual text in their reviews to support their opinions. Both reviews seemed to have enjoyed the fact that the book could engage the reader to further reading opportunities.
Evaluation of Literary Elements:
This book is designed for young readers, which can expand on the opportunity to explore new forms of text. The storyline is to get the child thinking about reading other text besides a normal child’s storybook. Inviting the reading in with the use of watercolor paintings and using lively words.
Consideration of Instructional Application:
I would use this in a first or second grade classroom, since the students already know how to read, this is a way for them to expand on their knowledge. I would incorporate the activity of the child going home and finding a form of text that they have not read before, such as an encyclopedia, a magazine, an atlas, etc. They will be able to explore this new text and find enjoyment in their creativity.