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In my opinion this is a great book for beginner readers. I liked this book for many reasons, the first reason being the language. Although the language consisted of short and to the point sentences, I found that it was descriptive enough for young children to understand. "I am not tall. I am not small. I have not any spots at all." Through this text the readers are able to begin to narrow down the possible animals. Paired with the language, the second thing I loved were the illustrations. The illustrations certainly enhanced the story and gave readers a visual aid of what animals the character could not be. With the text "I am not tall." there was a giraffe illustration. This illustration for example, tells the reader that the animal could not be a giraffe. The last thing I liked about this book was the plot. The plot was organized and placed suspense on the readers, who were trying to figure out what animal was being described throughout the book. "I cannot swim. I cannot fly. But you can find me way up high." I think that this quote really makes the readers think, because if he can't fly then why is he up high? You can see how young children would really enjoy the suspense from the plot, and figuring out what animal it describes. All in all I think that the 'big idea' of this book is to teach children how to use context clues in order to figure something out. The book uses rhyming words to make it fun, and has a mysterious element of trying to figure out who the animal is which, adds the thrill. ( )

This book gives clues to who the mysterious animal is on each page. This book helps reinforce phonics, sight words, reading comprehension, and facility with language. I really like the fact that there are 6 skill building activity pages at the back of the book that will allow me to really know if my student understood what they were reading!