The Treasure Sock - Softcover

PAT THOMSON has worked as an English teacher, a lecturer in Children's Literature and has been the Chairperson of the Federation of Children's Book Groups. She lives near Peterborough.TONY ROSS is a bestselling, award-winning picture book creator. He lives in Cheshire.

ea. vol: unpaged. (Share-a-Story Bks.). CIP. Delacorte. 1987. PLB $8.95. Grade 1-3 Thomson has devised a formula for parental involvement in reading. The text on the right-hand pages of these books is simpler than that on the left. Initially, the adult reads the entirety, with the child grad ually taking over the reading of the child's part on the right. Eventually the child is expected to read the story without adult support. Wilson's droll cartoons illustrate One of Those Days, for a real one-two punch. Told as a mother-daughter conver sation, Mother recounts her day of disas ters to her daughter's reactions. The last page sets up the condition for yet another calamity that readers are sure to think is a hoot. In Treasure Sock, another mother- daughter conversation, a little girl arrives home having stuffed her sock with objects found along the way. As her mother looks on and comments, the girl unloads her prizes one by one. There is no more to the story than this, but it's quite enough for success. Mother's good-natured banter combines with Ross' witty drawings washed with color to produce a winner. This sight method of learning to read that these books encourage can be quite effec tive given enough motivation on the child's part. These funny stories with their lively and stimulating pictures ought to provide just that motivation. Ruth Semrau, Love joy School, McKinney, Tex.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.