Steve Henry

Pete the Parrot lives alone on a deserted island until more and more animals keep arriving. What should Pete do?

This is a super sweet book perfect for youngsters just beginning to sound out words and read with assistance. The book is brief, with only one short sentence per page, printed in a large font. The phrases are by and large repetitive and focus on the -ay word family.

However, the book is not dull at all. The images are cheerfully colorful, with very animated facial expressions and show more body language for all the characters. The story has some surprise twists as well as lovely messaging -- it's okay to be alone, but there's also room for all and friendship can make us stronger. show less

This is one of the few I Like to Read titles that I actually liked to read. It's not perfect - there are some better and definitely some worse - but it's perfectly acceptable.

Cat is shivering with cold in a snowy city. He drops in through a basement window and goes up through an apartment building, meeting new friends along the way. On each floor he sees a different apartment and a different animal and gets a present until he finally finds a cozy corner for himself and his new treasures.

The show more art is cheerful and cluttered, much like the different animals' apartments. Each animal's apartment is crammed with books, paintings, and other signs of their particular hobby.

My main concern about this title is that the minimal text is in a fairly light font and a different position on each page. With the busy art, it tends to disappear into the page and you have to search for the words to read. For a very beginning reader, this is not ideal.

Verdict: As I'm looking to purchase more beginning easy readers and more titles in this series, this is just fine for my needs. Otherwise, I'd say it was an additional purchase.

ISBN: 9780823426591; Published 2013 by Holiday House; Borrowed from another library in my consortium show less

This goofy easy reader is a nice addition to Holiday House's I Like To Read line of emergent readers.

Pat and Mike, an elephant and his pet fish, are out for a day in the boat. While Mike naps, Pat slips over the side to hang out with some other fish. At first it's all fun and games, but when a shark shows up, Pat is in trouble! Will anyone be able to save her from the shark?

Henry's cheerful cartoons show a red-striped goldfish, toothy grey shark, and determined gray elephant coming to the show more rescue. The ocean is populated with colorful cartoon fish, shy clams, and worried crabs.

This is a higher level, D, due to the more complex words used. The text is a larger font but not huge and not as heavy and dark as some easy readers. The book is carefully laid out so the text is always against a light, empty background. Levels A-C are harder to find, but this is a nice transitional easy reader for kids ready to move up.

Verdict: A good filler choice if you are looking for more low-level easy readers.

ISBN: 9780823437733; Published July 2018 by Holiday House; Borrowed from another library in my consortium; Purchased for the library show less

Some forest friends frolic and play in the snow.

This book is designed for those just starting to read, with very simple sentences of two to five words. Many of them begin with "snow" and describe something about it (e.g., "Snow is white." "Snow blows." etc.). The story is super slight, as is the case when an author is trying to just focus on a short vocabulary list. The illustrations are a nice touch,