Vivian SathreCritiques

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While this was a cute story, it isn't one that I will go back to. The storyline consist of three mice baking a cake for a cat and inviting him to see it at the end. I felt as if there wasn't much to it, although I could see how it could be a good story to read to children about working together.

This is a picture book about three mice that try to sneak and bake their sleeping friend a cake for his/her birthday. The mice made a tremendous amount of noise, which caused their friend to wake up. The cat thought the mice didn't want to be bothered with him because the cat was put out the kitchen where the cake was being made. After all the trouble the mice went through, the cake is finally completed and presented to the cat who is very grateful and happy at the end. This is also a really good book to guide a child in baking a cake. It was a very detailed book and taught a lesson to work together and be kind to one another.

This early reader is a lesson on cooperation and cooking for in unlikely recipient of a birthday cake. The family cat ends up grateful to his three mice friends for their wacky efforts at making his birthday special.½

This book describes the typical relationship between a mouse and a cat. The mouse out smarts the cat by using wind to help him escape the cats clawing. This book is funny and overall entertaining.

Summary: Wishbone the dog imagines himself as the Brave Little Tailor fighting off giants as he watches his owner Joe compete in basketball against some really tall boys. As the game progresses so does Wishbone's imaginary story of him as the tailor, he tends to experience things with the giants that Joe does with the tall guys, but in a very different context.
Critiques:
Genre: This is a good example of a fantasy book because the Wishbone has a very active imagination. The story is written from his perspective as if though he is a human and it is often easy to forget that he is only a dog. Also, the story that Wishbone imagines is something that a dog would never experience but the author still makes it fun and believable. She enters us into a world that we are not familiar with.
Setting: The setting of this book is very interesting because there are two very distinct settings occurring. One of them is on the basketball court with Joe and the other is in Wishbone's fairy tale world. Within this book there are two very separate stories occurring but they tie into each other.
Media: Ink Pen

Three Kind Mice made a birthday cake for their friend. This book will guide children how to bake a cake and how to work with others. They work hard to bake the cake. Finally, it's done. They write a letter to invite their guest to come

This early chapter book is partly based on a fairytale, and is a decent book for young children to read before reading bigger chapter books. The story about his owner, Joe, is told by Wishbone, and he is also the main character in the story he tells about the tailor. The voice is 1st person and 3rd person. Wishbone narrates as 1st person, although he switches at least once to Joe thinking as if 1st person. Overall, it's unique how the dog is the narrator and main character in his story. Media: Ink and Watercolor

Genre: Fantasy/fairtale
Age Appropriateness: intermediate
characterization, Plot, theme, setting:
Media: watercolor and pencil
Review: This book is a good example of fantasy because Wishbone the main charater takes on all kinds of human characteristics he talks and is a tailor. This book is kind of two stories in one. There is one story going on with Wishbones friend Joe and a basketball game that is taking place at the park. The other story is about Wishbone on an adventure in a kingdom and he is fighting off birds and giants and the kings men. He has stitched into his jacket a phrase that is ment to intimidate all he comes into conflict with.

Eh. I could take or leave this book. I guess it would be good for very young children, where you need to use shorter sentences and words so they get the gist. But for older kids, it's just not as good. There wasn't much description of what they were doing, and lots of the sentences weren't even complete sentences. They were just phrases. Particularly for my daughter, I'd prefer books to have complete sentences, so that she can absorb how we speak, how sentences are structured, etc.

It was ok. I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone. With a little bit of work, it could have been a great book. It just lacks detail about what they were doing and why.½

Independent Reading Level: Grades 3-5

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