________________ CM . . . . Volume XVII Number 34 . . . . May 6, 2011

cover

I Move Like This. (My World).

Bobbie Kalman.
St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2010.
16 pp., pbk. & hc., $6.95 (pbk.), $15.16 (RLB.).
ISBN 978-0-7787-9473-8 (pbk.),
ISBN 978-0-7787-9429-5 (RLB.).

Subject Heading:
Human locomotion-Juvenile literature.

Preschool-grade 1 / Ages 3-6.

Review by John Dryden.

*** /4

   

excerpt:

I move like this when I do karate. I kick my legs high. I punch with my fists.

Bobbie Kalman's "My World" series explores the way children move and play. The book follows a familiar "guided reading" look in that there is a "words to know" section at the front, and there is also a repetitive text pattern in the book. There is also a guided reading level suggested on the back (level D).

      The book's photos are excellent and help the reader find the intended meaning. However, there was a surprise for me. Each page has a movement. For example, 'I am sitting in a wagon,' 'I am riding on my scooter,' 'I am climbing up a rock wall.' Now, if you are like me, and you read the title as "I move like this," (emphasis mine) with emphasis on movement, then you will be SURPRISED! The movement words are not emphasized in this book. I point this out because there are emphasized words, just not 'sitting' or 'riding' or 'climbing.' The bold words on each page are the words that make sense if you read the title "I move like this." The emphasized (bold) words in the book describe how the child moves or where the child is moving. For example, 'I am hanging upside down,' 'I kick my legs high,' 'I am riding on my scooter.' This is not a criticism, just a surprise to me as I was expecting there to be emphasis on the action words, the movement, not the location of the movement.

      Because this title is available in paperback for $6.95, a number of the same titles would be more attractive than the hardcover reviewed. I will also mention that, like other guided reading books, there are comprehension questions in these books as well. They don't ask for inference, simply facts about the pictures. For instance, 'Which child is sitting on a swing?'

Recommended.

John Dryden is a BC classroom teacher who is still trying to determine whether he is right side up, or upside down.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364
Hosted by the University of Manitoba.
 

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