Beginning Readers - Chapterbooks

REVIEWERS: Alida Allison, Marie Soriano

* denotes San Diego writer and/or illustrator
** Age levels, when provided by the publishers, are included in the bibliographical information. Otherwise, category placements are our best approximations.

• DiCamillo, Kate. Mercy Watson to the Rescue; Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride, Mercy Watson Fights Crime. Illus. Chris Van Dusen. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2007. $38.75 for three book hardback boxed set. ISBN 978-0-7636-3684-5.
• Yee, Wong Herbert. Abracadabra! Magic with Mouse and Mole. Boston: HoughtonMifflin, 2007. ISBN 978-0-618-75926-2. $15.00 U.S./ $19.95 CAN. Up to Grade 3.
  

DiCamillo, Kate. Mercy Watson to the Rescue; Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride, Mercy Watson Fights Crime. Illus. Chris Van Dusen. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2007. $38.75 for three book hardback boxed set. ISBN 978-0-7636-3684-5.

The author of the Newbery-winner The Tale of Despereaux and the Newbery Honor book Because of Winn-Dixie here turns her talents to literature for younger readers with delightfully humorous results. Coupled with funny, exuberant illustrations by Chris Van Dusen, this trio of picturebooks is an enjoyable read for all ages. The language is as animated as the art, making for books that are as much fun to read aloud as they are to look at.

Mercy is a pig, designated a “porcine wonder” by her tolerant owners, for she is not the most accommodating of creatures. In fact, she is in all three stories both an accidental menace and an accidental hero. The discrepancy between what the humans think Mercy is doing and the repeated fact that she is actually only looking for more of her favorite food, buttered toast, or dangerously grabbing the steering wheel of the Watson’s pink convertible Cadillac, or foiling a robber’s plot, makes a fine topic of conversation among the books’ readers. In each story, buttered toast saves the day for all concerned (except for one of the grouchy next-door neighbor Lincoln sisters). Would that buttered toast could solve more of the world’s problems.

A. Allison

Yee, Wong Herbert. Abracadabra! Magic with Mouse and Mole. Boston: HoughtonMifflin, 2007. ISBN 978-0-618-75926-2. $15.00 U.S./ $19.95 CAN. Up to Grade 3.

Abracadabra! Magic with Mouse and Mole is a delightful story that leaves you with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Mole is quite excited about going to see the Minkus the Magnificent show. He and his friend Mouse have a great time there. That is, until there’s a bit of an accident, and Minkus’ magic tricks are revealed. Mole becomes sad and disillusioned. To cheer him up, Mouse devises magic tricks of her own, showing him the real magic in nature.

Yee’s story may be on the didactic side, but I don’t see this as a bad thing. Doesn’t every child go through a phase of disillusionment? They find out magic tricks are slight of hand or the tooth fairy doesn’t exist. The magic and wonder of nature is something no one can take away, and it’s a lot more reliable than Santa Claus. Everyone can hear the ocean in a conch shell or relish the beauty of the moon.

Yee gently encourages readers to explore nature in a fun way. This would be a great book for teachers to use with science projects or for parents to read to their reluctant kids before a camping trip. It might even prompt kids to do something besides sit in front of the TV.

Abracadabra! is a perfect book for beginning readers. The short book is divided into four chapters, the text is nice and big and the pictures are in the middle and on the sides of the text, which is brilliant placement because long paragraphs might intimidate and discourage beginning readers. Speaking of illustrations, Wong Herbert Yee does the ones for his own book using charcoal pencil and gouache. His artwork is as delightful as his text, and is a bit reminiscent of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows.

Marie Soriano