Fun with Dear Dragon, Vol. 4

K-Gr 2—Four beginning readers by Margaret Hillert (Norwood House, 2008-10) are accompanied by a palm-sized MP3 audio player, batteries, and ear buds. The player has buttons for power, play/pause, fast forward, reverse, volume, and a small display screen. Readers can fast forward or go back to select a book, but the titles are only identified by a number in the display. Each book is read slowly, clearly, and distinctly, and accompanied by a few sound effects, brief music at the beginning and end, and page-turn signals. Colors 1,2,3 is a cute counting and color concept book in which a boy plays with his toy cars. A Is for Apple presents an object for each letter of the alphabet and a simple descriptive sentence. When Dear Dragon Goes to the Library with a boy, they enjoy a story time, do puzzles, color, and take home books, although it is unclear how the books are checked out. They see many big animals, pet a few, and then have a snack in the restaurant in Dear Dragon Goes to the Zoo. Parent pages offer tips for using the books to teach phonics, vocabulary, alphabetical order, fluency, and text comprehension. Although the buttons on the player may be slightly difficult for youngsters, the GoReader is more compact and simpler to use than CD or cassette players. The books must accompany the recording to be understood. These narrated books will help young children learn to read with engaging yet repetitive and predictable stories and David Schimmell's colorful illustrations.—MaryAnn Karre, Horace Mann Elementary School, Binghamton, NY