Bridging the Gap IX: Annabel the Actress by Ellen Conford

To carry the reader through a book limited to 6000 words and controlled vocabulary, beginning chapter books need a strong central character whose predilections carry him or her into quickly unfolding action. Veteran author Ellen Conford's Annabel the Actress series is no exception. Annabel wants to be an actress, a star of stage and screen (or at least soap opera), and she'll audition anywhere, costume herself wildly, and take any part toward that objective. "No Part Too Big or Too Small!" is her motto.

In the the series debut, Annabel the Actress Starring in Gorilla My Dreams, Annabel gets her first gig as a birthday party gorilla. Annabel's friend Maggie, designer wannabe, whips up a costume from the furry zip-out lining of an old coat, and Annabel borrows a Halloween gorilla mask. The costume isn't too convincing, and Annabel is way too short for a gorilla, but she diligently rehearses (even "grooming" her father while he tries to work at his computer) and vows to overcome her size challenge by "playing tall." After drawing on her acting skills to foil the seizure of her gorilla mask by her nemesis Lowell Boxer, Annabel manages to wow the five-year-olds and becomes the star of the birthday party.

Actress Annabel moves on to land a role in a community drama in which she shares the stage (successfully, after some tussles) with a large, drooling dog and suffers "costume malfunction," and heckling by her arch enemy Lowell Boxer, in Annabel the Actress Starring in Hound of the Barkervilles.

In the third book of the series, Annabel the Actress Starring in Just a Little Extra, Annabel ad libs a fainting scene to get herself an extra's role in a scary movie being filmed in her hometown. Annabel's film debut is not all she hoped for, but her terrified scream is a real hit with the filmmaker.

Conford's newest book, Annabel the Actress Starring in Camping It Up, finds Annabel at a summer drama camp, playing a bit part under the direction of a former horror movie star. Although she gets to use her trademark scream, Annabel's audition for the starring female role falls short, but when the camp mascot snake makes an impromptu appearance onstage during opening night, Annabel's quick improvisation saves the performance.

With Accelerated Reader grade levels between 2.9 and 3.4, the Annabel the Actress series is perfect for the grade 1-3 reader. With expressive drawings by Renee Andriani generously sprinkled throughout the text, this series, with its appealing, funny, and single-minded heroine, takes its place in the limelight, along with Conford's earlier beginning chapter books, the Jenny Archer series, at the top of the marquee for beginning chapter book readers.