Hooray for Reading Day!

A good example of realistic fiction because this idea of anxiety surrounding reading in front of people rings true with many, young and old. Here, Jessica is able to find a way to overcome her anxiety, or work around it anyway. This struggle involving students making fun of others who are slower or have difficulties is an unfortunate truth, and the teacher is depicted supporting Jessica. The plot is sequential and easy to follow, introducing the problem of worry early in the story. Jessica worries about reading and this anxiety affects her performance, but through hard work and finding out that she feels comfortable reading to her dog and reads flawlessly to him, Jessica thinks about this and performs well at reading theater. It may not show more have come easily, but Jessica feels a sense of accomplishment and pride when she improves her reading and finds courage to read in front of an audience of strangers.

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Hmmm....this book was incredibly lacking. i just couldn't enjoy much of this book. In first grade, I was already an avid reader and this book didn't at all place itself anywhere close to my childhood memories. I also can't imagine a teacher planning the Reading Theater activity with his students at such a young age. They would have to be in at least 3rd grade.

I can honestly say that the only thing I liked about this book was Wiggles the dog. I think that Jessica should have either snuck Wiggles into the theater or used him as a prop while she dressed up as a dog trainer or something. I think it would have been a better way to close the story since the whole reason she is so confident is because of Wiggles. =/

I liked this book for two reasons. This book pushes readers to think about their own fears of reading aloud, and methods they can use to get over them. In addition I liked the characters in the story because they are relateable. For example, Jessica’s reading teacher Mr. Martin is like many other good teachers who have faith and push their student’s abilities. The message of this story is for readers to acknowledge their inner Jessica and conquer their fears of reading aloud. And realize that most of their concerns about reading can be overcome.

I loved this story! This was about a little girl in first grade who struggles with reading out loud. She doesn't want to get made fun of if she makes a mistake. When the class decides to do a reading theater, Jessica is worried. She practices reading to her dog Wiggles over the course of a few days and realizes that she can do it to her dog. When it is her turn on reading theater day, Jessica nails her line in the book. She is so proud of herself and her teacher, parents, and dog are all proud of her too.

This is the story of a girl who is learning to read. She is a worrier by nature so when she has trouble figuring out words in front of her class, she gets very embarrassed. Her teacher tells them about Reading Day, where they will all have to read a line aloud…in front of classmates & parents! She realizes that she can read to her dog and it doesn’t embarrass her so she begins to practice that way (Puppy Tales, anyone???) She practices and practices and when Reading Day comes she is prepared and does a wonderful job!

This is a cute book about a young girl named Jessica who is incredibly fearful of reading in front of her class because of the idea of making a mistake. After much stress and small determination, she realizes how comfortable she is reading to her dog. When it's her turn to read in front of the class and parents, she just pictures her dog and reads her portion perfectly. This creates a new found love for reading.

Jessica worries about everything including reading aloud to the class. In first grade she still gets mixed up while reading aloud in her small group. But when Mr. Martin says she has to dress up as a book topic and read aloud to students and parents she becomes terrified. She finds that reading to her dog calms her down so when she reads aloud to the audience she pictures her dog and does a wonderful job.

A great book for struggling readers to identify that everyone struggles with something. Also great for a first grade classroom. A good book!