Pages

Sunday, March 4, 2012

What We're Reading Now #1

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, by Marla Frazee

Is it a graphic novel?  A picture book?  A little of both?  Either way, it is one of our favorites.  This is actually the third time my Kindergarten Kiddo has selected this Caldecott Winner to take home with her. 
The story chronicles the adventures of best friends James and Eamon (who by the end of the book are referred to collectively as “Jamon”) and takes place over one week of summer vacation spent with Eamon’s grandparents.  Best Week Ever manages to be funny for both grown-ups and kiddos, making it a perfect book to enjoy together.  I applaud Frazee for managing to infuse just enough tounge-in-cheek humor without being too snarky.  Case in point (from page 4):
The book’s structure makes it an ideal read-together book.  More mature readers can tackle the longer passages, and emerging readers will delight in reading the dialogue in the speech bubbles.  It provides an ideal opportunity for readers to inject voice and inflection in their reading. 

Bonus Points: if you can get the accompanying CD, it is a FANTASTIC audio recording.  It’s a little more elaborate than most cd recordings that accompany children’s books.  There are multiple readers: an adult and a child voice-over actor who read the grown-up and children’s parts, respectively.  Also, there are a few (though not distracting) ambient tracks – sounds of waves, seagulls, traffic, background music. What really sets it apart though is that the story begins before the book does.  The frontispiece of the book includes comic-book-like snapshots that depict scenes from the boys’ week at nature camp.  These are actually narrated in the recording.  Very cool!  


No comments:

Post a Comment