CM Magazine: How the Camel Got Its Hump.

________________ CM . . . . Volume XIX Number 17. . . .January 4, 2013

cover
How the Camel Got His Hump. (Tadpoles Tales).

Robert James, reteller. Illustrated by Stefania Calnaghi.
St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2012.
24 pp., pbk. & hc., $7.95 (pbk.), $18.36 (RLB.).
ISBN 978-0-7787-7900-1 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-7888-2 (RLB.).

Preschool-grade 2 / Ages 4-7.

Review by John Dryden.

*** /4

excerpt:

The animals worked hard, but camel was lazy.
The desert god saw this.
“Why are you so lazy, Camel?” he asked.
“Humph!” said Camel

In this version of one of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, emerging readers will learn about how the rude and lazy Camel got his hump.

“Tadpole Tales” books are, according to Crabtree, “structured for emergent readers.” How the Camel Got Its Hump is well-suited to that purpose. Each page has very little text, and the full-page illustrations by Stefania Colnaghi do an excellent job of providing clues as to what is going on in the story. The font is large, and the words are simple.

At the end of the story, there are two “activity” pages intended to assist the reader comprehend and describe the story. This feature would likely be more helpful to a parent using this book as a reading tool than to a teacher in a classroom.

I have not seen the “Tadpole Tales” series used in a school for guided reading purposes, but, if a school or school library could afford the set of Crabtree guided reading books, it might well be worth it as they are presented well and would likely last a long time.

Recommended.

John Dryden is an elementary school teacher in BC's Cowichan Valley.

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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