Come Back, Ben by Ann Hassett, and: Pete Won't Eat by Emily Arnold McCully (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Come Back, Ben by Ann Hassett, and: Pete Won't Eat by Emily Arnold McCully Hope Morrison Hassett, Ann . Come Back, Ben; written and illus. by Ann Hassett and John Hassett. Holiday House, 2013. [32p]. (I Like to Read) ISBN 978-0-8234-2599-0 $14.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. K-1. McCully, Emily Arnold . Pete Won't Eat; written and illus. by Emily Arnold McCully. Holiday House, 2013. [32p]. (I Like to Read) ISBN 978-0-8234-2853-3 $14.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. K-1. These two offerings from the Holiday House "I Like to Read" series offer simple storylines, lots of vowel sound repetition, and an extra-large font size to make reading more approachable for new readers. In Hassett's Come Back, Ben, a boy [End Page 93] flies off on a balloon past a series of passers-by until eventually landing on the moon, where he fills his pocket with moon rocks and sends himself floating back to earth. Cut-paper and ink illustrations in bold primary and secondary colors depict a fantasy-touched world where windows, kites, and mountains can talk. In McCully's Pete Won't Eat, a pig named Pete refuses to eat his bowl of green slop; just when Mom caves and makes Pete a sandwich, Pete decides to give the slop a try and finds that he likes it. McCully's line and watercolor illustrations feature a pastel cast of pigs and a particularly putrid bowl of green slop, and there is plenty of text-to-image pairing within the story to guide young readers. Both stories excel at their purpose—they are truly first readers designed to give newly independent readers a sense of early mastery with reading alone. Of the two, the Hassett offers a more fanciful storyline that departs from simple domestic themes, but either would be a welcome addition to a first reader collection. Copyright © 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois