nerd teacher [books] reviewed Tricia's Talent by Christianne C. Jones (Read-it! Readers)
Trite Books for New Readers
1 star
This book, at the beginning, highlights all the ways in which it has engaged with research around literacy, but it seems to have forgotten a core element of getting kids to read: making something interesting and engaging.
Yet again, this is another book that is so incredibly boring but is designed to be so simplistic because of how, I think, adults view children. It's not really focused on telling an engaging story; it's focused on trying to bring vocabulary, and it's doing it in a way that disengages the audience entirely. These books are generally some of the worst, and I have yet to work with any kids who like them; the most common feeling is "waste of time."
It's also clear because the first page is a note to parents and caregivers about what kind of book this is; it's labelled as a 'red level' book (as shown by …
This book, at the beginning, highlights all the ways in which it has engaged with research around literacy, but it seems to have forgotten a core element of getting kids to read: making something interesting and engaging.
Yet again, this is another book that is so incredibly boring but is designed to be so simplistic because of how, I think, adults view children. It's not really focused on telling an engaging story; it's focused on trying to bring vocabulary, and it's doing it in a way that disengages the audience entirely. These books are generally some of the worst, and I have yet to work with any kids who like them; the most common feeling is "waste of time."
It's also clear because the first page is a note to parents and caregivers about what kind of book this is; it's labelled as a 'red level' book (as shown by the red circle on the top right of the cover), which means that it'll "present familiar topics using common words and repeating sentence patterns." Ironically, these kinds of readers have a tendency to support poor reading skills and be used in teaching strategies that do not support readers at all.