Liz Mills

Emily Elizabeth wants to take Clifford along on her hot-air balloon ride, but he's just too big. But thanks to a little hiccup in the flight, things work out in the end for everyone.

Hey! A phonics story that actually works as a story. Nice!

The characters from the 2000-2003 Clifford animated show on PBS take a class field trip to an apple farm, where they have a hayride and pick apples with some help from a tagalong Clifford, in straightforward and generic episode that leaves little impression.

My daughter was quick to point out that -- despite the title -- no pumpkins are actually picked in the course of the story. So maybe it should be called "Picking Apples. . . . ~long pause~ . . . And Pumpkins!"

I Spy A Circus is written by Dan Marzollo and Photographs by Ward Yoshimoto. This book is also published in corporation with HBO and there is a DVD that goes with the book. Spyler is the ringleader and CeCe is Spyler’s dog. On each page there is an “I spy” rhyme and a list of things to find. The familiar sentence structure is great for emergent readers. Also, since the objects are pictures on the pages, the “I spy” game works as a scaffolding tool to help readers who might be show more struggling with the challenging words. The photographs are pictures with borders and the text is written on colorful, lined background. This differentiation between the text and photographs might be helpful for young children. After finding all of the objects, Spyler and CeCe go on a circus adventure and use the objects to perform (walking tight ropes and juggling). I really liked this book and the “circus” themes. show less

The teacher praises all the dogs at dog school, but T-Bone feels like his accomplishments are less praised than those of the other dogs and is uncertain he will graduate. He graduates at the end and is given a metal for trying the hardest.