Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Meg Mackintosh series

Bottom line:  pictorial mysteries.
Author: Lucinda Landon
Lexile measure: about 490
Language: No issues. 
Violence:  In some stories, people might get hurt by falling, tripping, or being pushed or run into accidentally.
Big Kid Mature Topics:  These mysteries deal with issues like theft, or items getting lost/taken/stolen.  Suspects often lie.
Illustrations:  Black and white drawings, every few pages.
Plot:  moderately complex.

These mystery books are great beginner mysteries.  The idea is that you read the story and look carefully at the pictures.  Every so often the story pauses and the book asks you, the reader to answer a question like, "WHERE SHOULD THEY LOOK?"  or "HOW DID SHE KNOW?"  and you have the opportunity to try to be a detective, too, before the story goes on and the answer is given.  The answers are all right in the story and pictures, and you don't need to have any specialized outside knowledge to figure out the answers, if you are patient enough, unlike the Encyclopedia Brown series.  This series depends highly on the pictures, so they are great for visual kids, and the answers aren't completely obvious, so even readers who have a reading level far above what the Lexile reflects can enjoy this series.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Raggedy Ann and Andy

Bottom line:  Innocent classic from the 1940's
Author: Johnny Gruelle
Lexile measure:  not yet measured--about 800
Language: Nothing objectionable.
Violence:  Getting restuffed because you have a tear, or getting totally reworked because you are old or neglected by a child.  One doll has a cracked head.
Big Kid Mature Topics:  Smoking is depicted as socially acceptable (Santa smokes a pipe, for example).  Many of the stories are gently moralistic in tone-- a few of the more edgy themes include stealing and social class.
Illustrations:  Full color illustrations, every few pages.
Plot:  simple.

DS enjoyed several of these.  The idea of toys coming to life is one that grabs the imagination of many young children and Raggedy Ann and Andy are so kind that it is a pleasure to read about their adventures.   Most very sensitive children would find these stories easy to listen to.  After a while, though, the device got boring to DS and he moved on to something else.  Each chapter is a different story and can be read independently from the others.