Too Much Like Leveled Readers
2 stars
Leveled readers are books that are generally designed for new readers and English learners, which supposedly build language skills by making sure a book 'fits' a level. Personally, I find these leveled readers suspect, as they don't so much build independent readers but create stories that are generally dull for the sake of "being easy" and "using appropriate vocabulary."
This book reads like that, though it doesn't look like a traditional leveled reader because of the art. I've tried using this book with a range of young students, and they all say things that indicate to me that the book is 'speaking down' to them rather than treating them like actual readers. For example, a few kids who like repetition in books (and think it's fun because they can sing it like a song) find the repetition of asking them to do simple maths problems (4-1, 3-1, 2-1, 1-1) to …
Leveled readers are books that are generally designed for new readers and English learners, which supposedly build language skills by making sure a book 'fits' a level. Personally, I find these leveled readers suspect, as they don't so much build independent readers but create stories that are generally dull for the sake of "being easy" and "using appropriate vocabulary."
This book reads like that, though it doesn't look like a traditional leveled reader because of the art. I've tried using this book with a range of young students, and they all say things that indicate to me that the book is 'speaking down' to them rather than treating them like actual readers. For example, a few kids who like repetition in books (and think it's fun because they can sing it like a song) find the repetition of asking them to do simple maths problems (4-1, 3-1, 2-1, 1-1) to be bothersome because they "already know how to do this."
I'm not going to say it's bad, but it's definitely just... very simplistic, even by the standards of children's books.