States

Children's Literature

In these nonfiction readers for kids, basic concepts that apply to both reading and writing are emphasized. In this series "Write on!" the basic use of capital letters is addressed in several books. In this particular book, readers are told that state names begin with a capital letter. Each spread has one page with a very short sentence about a state and the capital letter is shown in a different color so that it can be easily identified. The opposing page show a full color picture that matches the point made in the text. For example, "Fall is pretty in Vermont." And the picture is a beautiful scene of rolling farmland and trees in their brilliant fall foliage. The selected states are from very different sections of the country and the information and images will be of interest to beginning readers. The final text page asks readers to identify the capital letter for the state mentioned in the text (The answer is provided.). All of the words found in the book are recapped in lists as to their appropriate part of speech (accompanied by definitions of noun, adjective, and verb), a pronunciation guide and the page number where the word appears. In this particular offering there is a complete list of the states on the closing page with all of the capital letters highlighted. A useful book for teachers and one that can broaden its reach across the curriculum. Others in the series include Cities, Days, Months, Names, and Places. The books are leveled so the concepts are more complicated in the more advanced books. These are in the Level 1 series. 2001, Sandcastle/ABDO, Ages 4 to 6.
— Marilyn Courtot