Race Around the Globe by Sonia Sander is part of the Nick Jr. “The Backyardigans”, which is a phonics-reading program. It is a reading level 6 book and is perfect for Kindergarten and first grade readers. This book is specifically written to help students learn about the final e sound, which can be extremely challenging for young readers. In the start of the book, there is a vocabulary list of words with the silent final e (race, globe, stone, place, line, lake), high frequency words (on, at, the, to, along), and challenging words (around, starting, canoe, official, rocky, and mountain). I read this with a first grade student and I found that the student only had trouble with the specified challenging words and I found that very interesting. This book is about Race Austin, who takes place in a triathlon with all his friends. The illustrations are a great compliment to the text and can help readers decode the words. The book uses racing phrases such as “neck and neck” and “won by a nose” which sparked an interesting conversation from the reader. I think this book could be a great mentor text or SSR book selection for first grade readers. ( )