A month or two ago, I received a complimentary copy of What Am I? a collection of short stories by Marie Rippel and Renee LaTulippe, published by All About Learning Press. Designed for young readers, the book coordinates with lessons 1-14 of All About Spelling Level 2. I had the privilege of reviewing Beehive Reader 1 (now called Cobweb the Cat), an earlier book in the series, this past February.
What Am I? is written on a level that many second graders would be able to read, and it isn’t necessary to be using All About Spelling for your children to enjoy the stories. It’s well above James’ current reading level and below Nick’s, but I’ll definitely be holding onto it for a future date. The stories inside are fun and engaging to read. They’re accompanied by pencil illustrations – I love the style!
Along with eight stories written in prose, the book contains a chapter with four poems (also illustrated). I appreciate that, even though it’s written for young elementary ages, What Am I? exposes children to multiple genres of writing.
I was curious why the book is titled What Am I? and wondered if each story had a hidden character or something similar. Instead, I discovered that the last chapter shares its name with the book and contains six riddle-rhymes that give clues to encourage children to guess – What am I? The book ends with these words…
Tell me quick!
You gave it a try…
did you like this game of
What Am I?It’s fun to do,
so make up a quiz,
and see if your chums
can guess what it is!
In my opinion, an all-around delightful book – both for reading aloud to young children and for them to enjoy alone.
What Am I? is set to be released for sale on the All About Spelling website any day now. The cost will be $19.95 for a hardback, 160-page volume.
Thank you to All About Spelling and The Old Schoolhouse Crew for sponsoring this review.
© 2010, Cindy. All rights reserved.
