To be honest, I’m not particularly a fan of the Rookie Ready to Learn series in general:  I find the activities in the back of each are often formulaic and only tenuously related to the story; each one ends by telling you someone’s version of what you just learned by reading this story (besides being patronizing, they often don’t hit the mark).  But if you do like this kind of thing, or you’re willing to ignore the extra features that don’t enhance them, the central stories are often good little stories, with redeeming qualities of their own.  This one is a Spanish translation of another book in the series.  In order to preserve some of the rhyme of the original, they needed to make small adjustments to the meaning, so it is not a direct translation, but it still serves the same function: to use the story of a girl’s construction of a rocket to build shape vocabulary.

To be honest, I’m not particularly a fan of the Rookie Ready to Learn series in general:  I find the activities in the back of each are often formulaic and only tenuously related to the story; each one ends by telling you someone’s version of what you just learned by reading this story (besides being patronizing, they often don’t hit the mark).  But if you do like this kind of thing, or you’re willing to ignore the extra features that don’t enhance them, the central stories are often good little stories, with redeeming qualities of their own.  This one uses rhyming, somewhat repetitive text and shape vocabulary to describe how a girl builds a rocket ship to take her to the moon.

To be honest, I’m not particularly a fan of the Rookie Ready to Learn series in general:  I find the activities in the back of each are often formulaic and only tenuously related to the story; each one ends by telling you someone’s version of what you just learned by reading this story (besides being patronizing, they often don’t hit the mark).  But if you do like this kind of thing, or you’re willing to ignore the extra features that don’t enhance them, the central stories are often good little stories, with redeeming qualities of their own.  This one uses simple, repetitive text in the form of prepositional phrases,   accompanied by illustrations that not only support the text, but expand upon it, completing the story.  Together text and illustrations describe the day of a rather forgetful and clumsy girl, from the time she leaves the house for school until she returns.  It’s a good tool for developing prepositional vocabulary, and teaching students to observe both illustrations and text to make meaning.

To be honest, I’m not particularly a fan of the Rookie Ready to Learn series in general:  I find the activities in the back of each are often formulaic and only tenuously related to the story; each one ends by telling you someone’s version of what you just learned by reading this story (besides being patronizing, they often don’t hit the mark).  But if you do like this kind of thing, or you’re willing to ignore the extra features that don’t enhance them, the central stories are often good little stories, with redeeming qualities of their own.  This one uses simple text, with some repetition, using numbers and shape vocabulary to describe a family’s selection and carving of a pumpkin, ending with the contrast of showing another pumpkin made into a pie.

To be honest, I’m not particularly a fan of the Rookie Ready to Learn series in general:  I find the activities in the back of each are often formulaic and only tenuously related to the story; each one ends by telling you someone’s version of what you just learned by reading this story (besides being patronizing, they often don’t hit the mark).  But if you do like this kind of thing, or you’re willing to ignore the extra features that don’t enhance them, the central stories are often good little stories, with redeeming qualities of their own.  This one uses repetitive, rhyming text, and a pattern of opposites, with illustrations that support the text, to suggest different types of work that people do.  One inconsistency in the artwork, not explained in the text, could provide opportunities for discussion as to possible explanations:  the ending illustrations depict the narrator of the story in a wheelchair, but earlier in the book, the page that states, “People work below my feet,” shows the narrator’s feet standing at the edge of an archeological dig.  It allows for speculation as to what might have happened to put the girl in the wheelchair, and whether or not she will need it permanently.

To be honest, I’m not particularly a fan of the Rookie Ready to Learn series in general:  I find the activities in the back of each are often formulaic and only tenuously related to the story; each one ends by telling you someone’s version of what you just learned by reading this story (besides being patronizing, they often don’t hit the mark).  But if you do like this kind of thing, or you’re willing to ignore the extra features that don’t enhance them, the central stories are often good little stories, with redeeming qualities of their own.  This one uses repetitive pattern, rhyming text to describe things balls do, and inviting the reader to count balls in certain illustrations.  The use of varied verbs will be useful for vocabulary development and grammar discussions.

To be honest, I’m not particularly a fan of the Rookie Ready to Learn series in general:  I find the activities in the back of each are often formulaic and only tenuously related to the story; each one ends by telling you someone’s version of what you just learned by reading this story (besides being patronizing, they often don’t hit the mark).  But if you do like this kind of thing, or you’re willing to ignore the extra features that don’t enhance them, the central stories are often good little stories, with redeeming qualities of their own. This one uses repetitive, rhythmic, rhyming text, supported by the illustrations to share safety tips with young children.  One concern to be prepared for is that the effort to stick with the rhyming pattern relies on some unusual use of vocabulary that may need to be discussed in order for students to understand the meaning (e.g. “Sit in your chair right, or you might get tossed”).

To be honest, I’m not particularly a fan of the Rookie Ready to Learn series in general:  I find the activities in the back of each are often formulaic and only tenuously related to the story; each one ends by telling you someone’s version of what you just learned by reading this story (besides being patronizing, they often don’t hit the mark).  But if you do like this kind of thing, or you’re willing to ignore the extra features that don’t enhance them, the central stories are often good little stories, with redeeming qualities of their own.  This one uses repetitive, rhythmic, rhyming text, and silly illustrations to tell about a disastrous attempt of a young girl to help her dad bake a cake.

To be honest, I’m not particularly a fan of the Rookie Ready to Learn series in general:  I find the activities in the back of each are often formulaic and only tenuously related to the story; each one ends by telling you someone’s version of what you just learned by reading this story (besides being patronizing, they often don’t hit the mark).  But if you do like this kind of thing, or you’re willing to ignore the extra features that don’t enhance them, the central stories are often good little stories, with redeeming qualities of their own.  This one tells of a ladybugs search for her missing spots.  It uses repetitive and rhyming text that is supported by the illustrations, and invites the reader to interact with the illustrations by helping in the search for the spots.

To be honest, I’m not particularly a fan of the Rookie Ready to Learn series in general:  I find the activities in the back of each are often formulaic and only tenuously related to the story; each one ends by telling you someone’s version of what you just learned by reading this story (besides being patronizing, they often don’t hit the mark).  But if you do like this kind of thing, or you’re willing to ignore the extra features that don’t enhance them, the central stories are often good little stories, with redeeming qualities of their own.  This one uses repetitive and predictive text that is good for emergent readers, in a counting story with opportunities for discussion of colors and animals.