Got Sunglasses? Pete the Cat: Pete at the Beach by James Dean

PETE THE CAT GOES TO THE BEACH WITH HIS MOM AND BROTHER BOB.

"LET'S GO IN THE WATER!" SAYS BOB.

"... MAYBE LATER," SAYS PETE.

It's a hot day at the beach, and big brother Bob hits the waves with his surfboard, while Pete the Cat watches from the safety of the shore.

There's lots more to do, thinks Pete, watching the waves warily. He builds an elaborate sand castle, and Mom helps dig the moat. It's a great castle--until a big wave rolls in! Oh, no! Gotta watch those waves!

Pete surveys his demolished castle just as Bob rides a wave right to the beach.

"WOW! THAT LOOKS LIKE FUN!" THINKS PETE.

Still, Pete is unsure about that restless water. After all, look what it did to his sand castle.

Mom invites him along on a beach walk and they collect some groovy shells. That's all good, but now Pete realizes that he's hot, really HOT! A dunk in the ocean is looking better and better!

In James Dean's summery I-Can-Read Pete the Cat book, Pete the Cat: Pete at the Beach (My First I Can Read) (Harper, 2013), Pete the Cat ventures to get more than his feet wet as Brother Bob gives him his first surfing lessons and Pete affirms that while it's all right to be a little afraid of the waves, it's more fun to surf on top of them.  In fact, it's all good!

Other Pete I-Can-Read beginning readers include Pete the Cat: Pete's Big Lunch (My First I Can Read), and Pete the Cat: Play Ball! (My First I Can Read).

Shell Game: Splat the Cat: A Whale of a Tale by Rob Scotton

SPLAT THE CAT BUCKLED HIS SEAT BELT.

"LET'S GO!   IT'S VACATION TIME!"

It's summertime, he's on the way to the beach, and Splat the Cat doesn't have a care in the world.  Except for one job.

"BRING ME BACK A SHELL SO I CAN HEAR THE SEA, TOO!" Grandpa had said.

So before Splat can have a carefree frolic in the sea, finding that perfect seashell is job one.

Splat heads down the beach,

He spots small, boring shells, clam shells, even an egg shell left from someone's picnic. He spies a golden shell mostly buried in the sand. It turns out to be a cool ship's bell, but it's not what he wants.  He just has to find a shell that will bring Grandpa back the sound of the sea!

Splat notices that the sand is mysteriously littered with broken shells. But then he looks up just in time to see a seagull dropping an intact shell. CRAAACK! It hits the sand and shatters. Mystery solved.

But how is Splat going to get a perfect shell with the sound of the sea still inside?

Splat's seaside hunt takes a fantastical turn in an encounter with a friendly whale in Rob Scotten's new summer-themed I-Can-Read book, Splat the Cat: A Whale of a Tale (I Can Read Book 1) (Harper, 2013). In another funny story from the prolific Rob Scotton starring his jittery kitty, Splat muses on the way home that he has two gifts for Grandpa, a shell with the sound of the sea and a whale of a tale!

Tutti de Tutus: Too Many Tutus by Jane O'Connor

Nancy Clancy's closet is too, too tight.

MY CLOSET IS BULGING. (THAT IS A FANCY WAY TO SAY THAT THE DOOR WILL NOT CLOSE.)

"YOU HAVE TOO MANY TUTUS," MY MOM TELLS ME.

Of course, there is no such thing as too many accessories for Fancy Nancy. Still, she see the virtues of  a closet door that will close.  Little sister JoJo is happy to take one outgrown tutu off her hands.  But Nancy draws the line at donating more than two tutus.

At school the next day Ms. Glass has the perfect solution to the Clancy closet problem. The class will have a Swap Shop day. Students will receive a point for each item they donate, which they can "spend" at the shop to buy swapped merchandise. OOO LA LA!! Nancy likes any activity that has the word "shop" in it somewhere, and with this incentive she assembles a treasure trove of cast-off finery to donate to the Swap Shop, earning fifteen points for her donations.

But push comes to shove the next day when Nancy and her nemesis Grace both covet the same beautiful green tutu with double tulle tiers and bows. Grace gets to it first, but Nancy is in luck--Grace only has five points  and the tutu is priced at seven!

"HA! MINE!" I SAY. 

I START TO TAKE THE TUTU FROM GRACE.  BUT SHE LOOKS MISERABLE.

THAT MAKES ME FEEL BAD.

Nancy knows what it's like to have a case of the tutu blues, and her altruism wins out over tutu mania.

MISS GLASS TAKES ME ASIDE AND SAYS, "THAT WAS VERY THOUGHTFUL."
(THOUGHTFUL IS FANCY FOR KIND.)

"YOU ARE GROWING UP IN LOTS OF WAYS."

It's a rare primary grade girl today whose closet doesn't boast two to ten tutus. For different reasons, both parents and tutu enthusiasts will empathize with Nancy's too many tutus dilemma in Jane O'Connor's latest I-Can-Read tale, Fancy Nancy: Too Many Tutus (I Can Read Book 1) (Harper, 2013). Nancy may be a pint-sized fashionista, but she also has a good heart and shows it when she shares the tutu treasure with her classmate. As always, the characters devised by O'Connor and original artist Robin Preiss Glasser are ably illustrated by Ted Enik in the newest in this too-too terrific beginning reader series.

Latest Buzz: Buzz Boy and Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold

ONE NIGHT BUZZ SAID, "I MADE A BOOK.

WE ARE SUPER HEROES!"

"HEROZZZZ?" SAID FLY GUY.

After his first venture into romance in his top-selling Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl and his Geisel Award-winning appearance in Hi! Fly Guy (Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor Book (Awards)) wouldn't any talking housefly/pet be feeling invincible?

Well, Tedd Arnold's stars of the beginning reader galaxy are back again in his new Buzz Boy And Fly Guy (Scholastic, 2010), in which the indomitable two become super herozzz whose mission is to reclaim their property and destroy a dragon--or, in Fly Guy's own words ....

"TIME TO TAKE CARE OF BUZZ-NESS!"

It all begins at bedtime, when Buzz the Boy beds down with his best buddy, Fly Guy. But it's not sleepytime yet for the two friends. Buzz pulls out his own graphic novel starring the dynamic duo, in which Buzz shrinks to the size of his pet fly and--SHAZAM! POW! WHAM! Buzz becomes.... BUZZ BOY! Dragons? NO SWEAT!! Pirates? NO PROBLEM!

With this dynamic musca domestica duo on the job, the world is made safe for a boy and his fly, and at last it's time for...beddy bye for Buzz and Fly Guy. It's all good fun in the inimitable Tedd Arnold style, and his ever-popular googly-eyed guy and his fly remain the super heroes of early reading skills. Don't buzz off any time soon, boys!

Come Fly With Me! Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl by Tedd Arnold

Buzz and Fly Guy went walking.

A girl was running. A fly was chasing her.

"Don't worry," said Buzz. "Flies aren't pests. They are pets!"

"I know!" said the girl. "This is my pet. Her name is Fly Girl."

Talk about your cute meets! In the best movieland romance tradition, Fly Guy and Fly Girl are instant soul mates. Fly Guy can say his boy's name--"BUZZ!" but Fly Girl can say her girl's name, too--"LIZZ!" Any aeronautical maneuver that Fly Guy can muster, Fly Girl can match or best. They share a common interest in disgusting green goos of all kinds. And the attraction is mutual between them. Soon the two are muttering sweet nothings to each other:

"WUZZLE WUZZLE!

WUZZY WUZZA?"

In no time the two muscae domesticae are pitching serious woo and thinking of setting up their own domestic partnership in an empty dog food can with "Home Sweet Home" over the door. But what about Buzz and Liz? Can the two enamoradas abandon their best friends even for domestic bliss in the garbage dumpster?

Author-illustrator Tedd Arnold takes on this romantic dilemma in the latest in his award-winning Fly Guy series in Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl (Scholastic, 2010). With a beginning reader vocabulary and chapter headings which give it the look of an early chapter reader, this one is bound to be popular with fans of these very popular emergent reader books. For more Fly Guy fun, pair this one with There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Fly Guy.

Martha's Got Game! Play Ball (Martha Speaks) by Susan Meddaugh

We have a softball game tomorrow," says Truman.

"The coach says I have to play.

But I can't catch the ball!"

"Barking bloopers!" says Martha. I'll give you catching lessons.

Trust me--I'm an expert."

After all, Martha and her sidekick Skits are great catchers--balls, Frisbees, whatever! Martha takes her friend to the park where Helen's friend Alice is making some practice throws to Skits. Skits demonstrates his faultless technique, and Alice agrees to pitch a few to Truman. But Truman is afraid of the ball and hides his eyes. "Try to keep your eyes on the ball," Martha says, but even when he gets his glove on the ball, it bounces right out again. "Squeeze the glove," Martha suggests.

Finally their coaching pays off, and Truman begins to hang onto the ball most of the time. And when Coach puts him into the field the next day, Truman gets right under a pop fly and pulls it in like a pro.

There's only one problem. Truman doesn't know how to throw the ball to pick off the runner trying to make second base. OOOOPS!

"Martha? Can you teach me to throw the ball?" he pleads.

"Sorry," Martha says. "Dogs can't throw.

NO THUMBS!"

Even a talking dog like Martha can only do so much, but Martha can always be counted on to pitch in and do what she can. Susan Meddaugh, creator of the Martha picture books series, and her collaborators Marcy Sacks and Susan Kim from the PBS TV series "Martha Speaks" pitch in to create another in her Green Light Level 2 series, Martha Speaks: Play Ball! (Reader) (Martha Speaks Readers) Houghton Mifflin, 2010) for beginning readers. Appended are some activities to reinforce vocabulary introduced in the text, and for more reading fun with Martha the Talking Dog, visit her online at PBSKids here.

Gobble Gobble Giggles: Turkey Riddles by Katy Hall and Lisa Eisenberg

Why isn't it safe for turkeys to do math?

If they add 5 + 3, they get ATE!

What did the turkeys say when the Pilgrims passed the potatoes?

"No, thanks. We're stuffed!"

Those princesses of puns, the royals of riddledom, Katy Hall and Lisa Eisenberg are the go-to goddesses to turn to whenever an occasion for easy reading levity presents itself, and, after all, what is more lampoon-able than the titillating turkey? And these riddlemeisters for all seasons do not disappoint with their offerings for the Thanksgiving table:

What do you get when you cross a turkey with an octopus?

A Thanksgiving dinner with drumsticks for everyone!

And there are gobbler giggles for everyone in Hall and Eisenberg's Turkey Riddles (Easy-to-Read, Puffin), in this classic-as-green-bean-casserole favorite for the thankful season. Kristin Sorra adds to the spread with enticing full-page illustrations that set off each tasty morsel of holiday humor, leaving those beginning readers with a funnybone, er, well satisfied.

What did the sweet potatoes say to the turkey?

"Here I YAM!"

That's Show Biz! Fancy Nancy: The Show Must Go On by Jane O'Connor

"Quiet, please," says Ms. Glass. "I have an announcement." (That means she has something important to tell us.) "The talent show is in a week."

"Yay!" Bree and I bump fists. We have our act planned out already.

Nancy has a fancy circus costume she's dying to wear, and she's even got a song about a daring girl on the flying trapeze to sing. Bree is down with the whole plan, and the girls think their act is already ready for prime time.

But Ms. Glass has other plans! She announces that she's assigning partners, and Nancy finds herself paired with Lionel, a retiring young man who doesn't show the least propensity for fanciness! Ms. Glass has the partners brainstorm (that's fancy for talk over ideas), but Lionel confesses he doesn't care for singing, dancing, or telling jokes. He does volunteer that he can wiggle his ears, crack his knuckles, and balance a spoon on his nose, but Nancy can't come up with an act to showcase those talents.

Back at home, her mother suggests that she get together with Lionel on Saturday and get to know him in order to figure out how they can work together on their project. Lionel's house turns out to be "almost a mansion." Ooh la la! And in Lionel's bedroom is his collection of lion figures, large and small. "I get it," says Nancy. "You like lions because your name is Lionel!" And when Lionel puts on his favorite life-sized lion mask, Nancy suddenly sees a way to work him into her circus act after all.

The skit, "Lady Lulubelle and the Man-Eating Lion," with Nancy in her sparkly circus costume, is a big success, and when the young actors go out for ice cream after the performance, Nancy learns another fancy act--Lionel teaches her to balance a spoon on her nose.

Jane O'Connor's latest in her early reader series, Fancy Nancy: The Show Must Go On (I Can Read Book 1) shows that our fancy girl can improvise spontaneously even when things don't go the way she plans. With a lively but carefully controlled vocabulary, this school story should join the previous titles (see my reviews here) in popularity with early independent readers for this appealing I-Can-Read series.

Meet the Winner: Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems

"Are you ready to play outside?" says Gerald.

"Yes, Yes, Yes!" says Piggie. "We are going to do everything today. We are going to run! We are going to skip! We are going to jump!

Nothing can stop us!"

That odd couple, Gerald the diffident elephant and Piggie, the irrepressible piglet, rush to meet each other one morning, planning all kinds of outdoor fun at last. But, of course, into each life some rain must fall, and just as they are ready to run and skip and jump in the sunshine, a rain shower begins to dampen their enthusiasm--at least, Piggie's.

"It's raining! It's pouring! It's REALLY pouring!! I don't LIKE rain!!

Piggie is irate at their bad luck, while his pragmatic friend Gerald offers him the shelter of one of his large ears. Suddenly, Piggie notices two very happy earthworms enjoying the rain, splish splashing in the showers. Hmmmm. Piggie is inspired.

"SPLASH! "This is GREAT! Let's PLAY!"

But just as the two buddies begin to splash in the puddles, it stops.

"RATS!"

But with an optimist like Piggie and a make-do realist like Gerald, we know that even rain (or the lack of it) can't dampen the best friends' spirits for long.

Mo Willems' Are You Ready to Play Outside? (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (Hyperion, 2008), like his There Is a Bird On Your Head! (An Elephant and Piggie Book), has just taken the Theodore Seuss Geisel Award for beginning reader books. At levels below Grade 1, with easy vocabulary and wonderfully delineated characters, this series is a natural for emerging readers in Kindergarten or first grade.

Watch for Willems' latest in this series, Watch Me Throw the Ball! (An Elephant and Piggie Book), forthcoming in early March, 2009. Other titles in this series are I Will Surprise My Friend! (An Elephant and Piggie Book), Today I Will Fly! (An Elephant and Piggie Book), My Friend is Sad (An Elephant and Piggie Book), I Love My New Toy! (An Elephant and Piggie Book), and Elephants Cannot Dance! (An Elephant and Piggie Book).

Inconvenient Truth: There Is a Bird on Your Head! by Mo Willems

Mo Willems, 2008 Caldecott Honor winner for his Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity also received this year's Theodore Seuss Geisel Award for beginning reader books for his There Is a Bird On Your Head! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (Elephant and Piggie), a droll little early reader which answers the burning question "What's worse than a bird on your head?" (Answer? "Two birds on your head!")

The story begins with the one question we all dread to ask.

"Is there something on my head?" Gerald the Elephant asks his friend Piggie.

"Yes," answers Piggie, looking a bit anxiously at the bird looking back at him.

"There is a bird on your head," he answers.

Things go downhill from there. Another bird with amorous intentions joins the first bird and to Gerald's consternation they proceed to prepare a nest, lay and hatch three eggs, and begin to raise their nestlings.

By now the indignity of it all is too much for Gerald. When yelling and jumping up and down don't dislodge the avian family, Piggie suggests that he ask nicely. "No problem," responds one bird, and they agreeably vacate the premises, lifting off with their family, nest and all.

"Thank you, Piggie! Thank you very much!" gushes the visibly relieved Gerald.



Other beginning readers in this series are Today I Will Fly! (Elephant and Piggie), My Friend is Sad (Elephant and Piggie), I Am Invited to a Party! (Elephant and Piggie), I Will Surprise My Friend! (Elephant and Piggie), and I Love My New Toy! (Elephant and Piggie).