A great read aloud to talk about word work and how spelling impacts meaning. ( )

Words starting off as a letter and when you continue adding letters it can make a word and then words can make sentences. ( )

Lexie a cowgirl with a great vocabulary. Good to use to introduce compound words with a fun narrative.

Someone is stealing Lexie’s letters! Lexie spends her days wrangling up letters and creating words, rearranging letters and coming up with new meanings, and rustling up sentences with her rope. One day, Lexie begins to notice that her words and sentences are changing. She finds out that a funny kid, Russell, is changing all her words. Rather than turning him in to his father, Lexie decides to train Russell and teach him how to use his talent for good. Russell starts helping Lexie on the ranch and begins to train other children on how to be wranglers, just like him and Lexie. Van Slyke and Hartland did a wonderful job at creating real voices for their characters that emphasize funny word puns and folk-style illustrations. The characters come to life through Hartland’s colorful paintings and creative collage-art style. This book is a wonderful accompaniment for early readers learning about sentence structures and compound words. The book also focuses on the ideas of forgiveness and making mistakes, when Lexie forgives Russell and shows him a better way.
BIBLIO: 2017, Nancy Paulsen Books/ Penguin Young Readers Group, Ages 5 to 8, $17.99 and
$23.99.
REVIEWER: Briana Matlock FORMAT: Picture Book ISBN: 978-0-399-16957-1