Overview
What would you do if a bunch of letters jumped right off the page while you were reading a book? Run after them, of course. Join Sue MacDonald as she travels from a railroad station to a sewer to a mountain peak and more, all in an attempt to capture her renegade vowels. Reading a book has never been so interactive!
Jim Tobin’s clever text—based on a favorite children’s song—is perfectly coupled with Dave Coverly’s winning illustrations. Get ready for a madcap adventure starring five very important letters.
Synopsis
What would you do if a bunch of letters jumped right off the page while you were reading a book? Run after them, of course. Join Sue MacDonald as she travels from a railroad station to a sewer to a mountain peak and more, all in an attempt to capture her renegade vowels. Reading a book has never been so interactive!
Jim Tobin’s clever text—based on a favorite children’s song—is perfectly coupled with Dave Coverly’s winning illustrations. Get ready for a madcap adventure starring five very important letters.
Publishers Weekly
Piggybacking this story-in-verse onto "Old McDonald" works surprisingly well in this children's book debut for Tobin and Coverly. "Sue MacDonald had a book./ A E I O U/ The words made sense last time she looked./ A E I O U." The ponytailed schoolgirl spends the book chasing down the mischievous vowels that have escaped from her book, rendering it unreadable (the gesture toward educational content ends here-the rest is all hijinks). Cartoonist Coverly draws the vowels with Krazy Kat noses, googly eyes and miniature hands and feet. Ink and watercolor spreads alternate with vignettes, and the pace never flags. Sue's dramatic captures give her temporary superhero status: she swings through the trees, hitches a ride in a balloon and tracks through the sewer. As she pursues each vowel, Tobin adeptly highlights the letter in question in the accompanying text (as Sue rescues the "I" from an encounter with thugs in a skyscraper: "Scary climb/ nick of time,/ saved him from a life of crime"). The cartoony illustrations and smart verse make for an engaging read-aloud-or sing-along. Ages 4-7. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Piggybacking this story-in-verse onto "Old McDonald" works surprisingly well in this children's book debut for Tobin and Coverly. "Sue MacDonald had a book./ A E I O U/ The words made sense last time she looked./ A E I O U." The ponytailed schoolgirl spends the book chasing down the mischievous vowels that have escaped from her book, rendering it unreadable (the gesture toward educational content ends here-the rest is all hijinks). Cartoonist Coverly draws the vowels with Krazy Kat noses, googly eyes and miniature hands and feet. Ink and watercolor spreads alternate with vignettes, and the pace never flags. Sue's dramatic captures give her temporary superhero status: she swings through the trees, hitches a ride in a balloon and tracks through the sewer. As she pursues each vowel, Tobin adeptly highlights the letter in question in the accompanying text (as Sue rescues the "I" from an encounter with thugs in a skyscraper: "Scary climb/ nick of time,/ saved him from a life of crime"). The cartoony illustrations and smart verse make for an engaging read-aloud-or sing-along. Ages 4-7. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Children's Literature -
Sue MacDonald has her hands full, or rather, had her hands full before all the vowels in the book she's reading decide to hop off the pages and run away. What is there to do when something like that happens? Why, chase after them, what else? This book makes it easy for kids to put the words on the pages into the familiar song, "Old MacDonald had a farm," making it fun to read and learn vowels at the same time. Clever cartoon illustrations bring Sue to life as she chases, catches, and even reprimands each vowel and then places them in her backpack. From a train in Maine to Katmandu, there is never a dull moment as Sue defies all odds to capture her vowels. The ending is wonderful with AEIOU returned to her book pages and Y peeking around the corner asking, "HEY! What about me?" Nicely designed and cleverly done, this book is a winner for kids learning their vowels. Reviewer: Joan ElsteSchool Library Journal
K-Gr 2
This lively grammar-related adventure is a sing-along to the tune of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" with the repeated refrain, "AEIOU." Sue MacDonald has a book called My Farm by O. MacDonald but can no longer read it after the vowels escape. The girl pursues A on a train that goes to Maine, captures E "sleeping in a tree," saves I from some bad guys and "a life of crime," and fishes O out of a sewer "where the microbes grow." She tucks the letters safely into her backpack and looks for U. After traveling "from Kansas U...to Katmandu," Sue discovers that the vowel has been in her shorts pocket the entire time. With the vowels back in her book, she is able to sound out the words. Done in vivid colors, the ink-and-watercolor illustrations feature high-energy cartoon figures. Each vowel's adventure highlights that letter's long and short sounds (e.g., I is saved in the "Nick of time"), making this book a boon to reading teachers. This educational romp, reminiscent of Robin Pulver's Nouns and Verbs Have a Field Day (Holiday House, 2006), is a strong choice for classroom and library collections.-Mary Jean Smith, Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN