Reading Response: Beginning/Transitional

 

Stop! Bot! by James Yang is a Level 1 book for early readers. It is a very short text that begins with a boy who has a robot (bot) that he controls with a remote control.  The bot gets away from the boys, and throughout the book, people help him in a variety of ways to reunite the boy with his bot. This plot is easy to understand and includes the conflict within the first few pages. Each page consists of a significant illustration that encompasses the entire page and includes silly ways that people in the community try to reconnect this boy with his bot.  Each set of facing pages includes one word bubble that contains short, monosyllabic words.  Some word bubbles contain an entire sentence consisting of no more than five words, while other word bubbles contain only two exclamatory words such as “Ooo! Bananas!” to accompany the illustration that a large gorilla has the bot in its hand and is trying to be enticed with the bananas so it drops the bot. 

This book is appropriate for children ages two and up.  The repetition of words such as “Stop!” and the short vowel sounds throughout the text helps young readers to familiarize themselves with sounds.  While some words such as "giraffe" and “trombone” are more difficult for young readers, the illustrations of both the giraffe and trombone are included in many books for young readers so, while children may not be able to read the word, they know what the object/animal is to make that connection.  The illustrations help to tell the story to young readers so they can begin to develop their knowledge of site words. 

Stop! Bot! is also a transitional book because of the simple vocabulary and large type face. The sentences contained within each spread are uncomplicated and the story itself, while completely abstract, is easy for children to follow. The brightly colored illustrations and objects within each spread can keep children engaged while reading or being read to. This is a book that contains mostly pictures and, while it is suggested for ages two and up, older children ages 5-6 who are learning to read this book can do so independently. 

Yang, James. Stop! Bot! Viking Press. 2019. 40 pages. Tr. $17.99. ISBN 9780425288818.

Bink and Gollie: Two for One is the second book in a series of three that tells the story of two girls–quite different from each other–that, no matter the situations they find themselves in, will always stay friends. This book is a Level 2 book for early readers.  While there are only a small amount of multi-syllabic words, since many words are repeated or monosyllabic, there are still spreads of pages that include multiple sentences.  The sentences within the book alternate between short, simple sentences and more complex ones.  This book varies in sentence length because some spreads contain short sentences in the form of questions, others contain illustrations only, while other spreads contain multiple sentences.  This transitional book is meant to look like a chapter book since there are three distinct sections–or chapters–so young children who are ready for more reading endurance can move from early readers to this lengthier book.  What also makes this a transitional book is that these three chapters are episodic; the girls begin by playing carnival games, then they view a talent show, and they end their day with encountering a fortune teller.

This book contains two main characters with one minor character appearing in each chapter. This helps readers connect with the characters and understand each without a complex plot.  Illustrations appear on the double-page spread that help to reinforce the words on each page and move the plot along. Most spreads have illustrations that take up the entire spread, but some contain illustrations that are in panel form to show the thoughts of the characters, or the illustrations only take up half or a quarter of the page. Even though there are chapters and lengthier sentences in this book, the typeface is still larger than a standard size font. Because of the length of the book, this larger font size does not overwhelm the reader and will not feel daunting to a new reader given the length of the book. 

DiCamillo, Kate and Alison McGhee. Bink and Gollie: Two for One. illus. Tony Fucile. Candlewick Press. 2012. 96 pages. Tr. $15.99. ISBN 9780763633615.