With a pleasingly simple vocabulary perfect for first and second grade readers, this book captures the pleasures of a family spending a Saturday together. Ms. Baker is a fine writer.

This is a wonderful book! Parents will recognize the everyday situations families experience, and it's a treat to see patience and kindness portrayed by these bears with their kids. Children like the gentle story; early readers can feel confidence as they spot words and phrases they can successfully read. Told from each family member's point of view, the story of their afternoon unfolds with appreciation of everyone's unique experience of life. It's delightful.

Kate Duke's charming book "Guinea Pigs Near and Far" puts welcome emphasis on the adorability of guinea pigs! So often in children's books we see mice, hamsters, squirrels, bunnies and all other manner of sweet little fuzzy animals, but the guinea pig has been sorely and notably neglected.

Duke rights that wrong with "Guinea Pigs Near and Far." Simplistic in the extreme--just simple comparisons of words like "near" and "far" and so on--the text isn't the main attraction here. The drawing power of this book is the guinea pigs, of course. They are shown hiking, biking, riding trains, flying kites, sailing boats, and generally being completely and utterly entrancing.

This book is good for younger grades because it has great repetion.

As a child, Seven froggies went to school was my favorite book. I had it memorized by 1st grade. This story has a rhyme scheme to carry the story along and make it interesting and easy to memorize for young children. It's about seven little frogs who go to school by the bog, sit on a log and learn their lessons from Master Bull Frog. The seven little frogs must learn how to ride upon a knewt, dance, and play the flute. Dive and swim, and running from boys with sticks. Seven froggies grew up fast, big froggies they became at last. Now they sit upon their bog teaching other little frogs.

it must be re printed it came out when i was a kid it is the best book. a must to have and amust to read if you cant buy it rent it. it still good after 13 years. awsome get it

My boys are 3 yrs old and too young to create stories, but they still love the storyline and illustrations of the book itself. The book is wonderful for preschoolers since it uses animals for the characters and the wording is perfect for reading aloud. It's full of adventure and the "scary" parts are downplayed by the whimsical illustrations.

For older children who are developing their writing talents, this would be an great way to "explain" the characteristics of "a good story" as requested by Penelope. Throughout the book, Aunt Isabel adds various "ingredients" essential for a good story. She starts with a WHEN and WHERE, adding a hint of scariness and cheerfullness in the adventure. Her details of the characters allow us to be part of the story. The conversation of the main characters leads to ROMANCE, but "too much niceness is dull" so they add a PROBLEM. A little DANGER is also "good for a story". Of course the heroine has creative ways of getting them out of danger and things work out in the end. "It's the HAPPY ENDING every good story should have", according to Aunt Isabel. And best of all, Aunt Isabel leaves the ending open for more adventures, because now, it's time for bed.

This is an excellent book. It is a great resource to teach story elements.

This charming picture book helps young readers or listeners gain an understanding of the things that make a story good, or what the English teachers like to call "story elements;" you remember, those things like "plot" and "character" and "conflict."

Aunt Isabel spins a tale to entertain her young guest, and as she does, she explains all the things she'll need to make a good story. At some points, Penelope protests, until Isabel sets her straight as to why these things need to be included.

I have used this with my middletellers troupe to help them gain a sense of how to structure the stories they tell. Even though this is a young child's book, my 12-15 year old tellers seem to enjoy this more than any dull lecture I could give them. And therein lies proof of the value of story itself to teach. A truly delightful book!

This book is great for my 4 year old who is just beginning to learn about addition. The illustrations are cute and the wording is so funny! We always read it more than once at a time.

Story and pictures are very cute. My son is 7 and this book is a bit too elementary for him. Would have suited him better a couple years ago.

We started reading this book when my son was 2 1/2 half - he's just turned 3 and we're still reading it most weeks. It's a great way to teach basic numbers, even before the concept of addition is meaningful. We count the number of guinea pigs on every page, and name the guinea pigs - good recognition and memory practice. At each number, all the details on the page match, giving more opportunities for counting. And it's a delightful story. A classic!

The review giving this book one star is quite a revelation. It's unfortunate the reviewer was unaware that all the words in the book are adjectives - what a brilliant innovation for an ABC book!

Apparently the person who wrote the review is working with very disadvantaged children. Generally young children, even those under three, know words such as 'empty', 'quiet' and 'neat'. The purpose of this book is to help enrich a child's vocabulary, and not repeat the common 'apple, bird, and cat' ABCs. And the wonderful illustrations are as appealing as those in any of the very best children's books.

Most ABC books are about nouns.
This author decided to be different and write an ABC book about adjectives!

The reviewer who gave this book one star, Jay Babcock, underestimates the intelligence of the average 4 to 5 year old. Certainly 1-3 year olds may not get the concepts in this book ""E" for Empty" with two piggies looking at an empty mailbox. It is the parent's or reader's job to explain the illustration and what "empty" means as a teachable moment. Everything should not be spelled out and spoon fed to kids or they will never learn anything at all. The children that I have seen checking out this book again and again loved it and when they sounded out words, they were so happy to get them right. They were inspired to read further and read other books as well. It is highly unfair of him to suggest that she had no business writing this book.

I found the book to be delightful and wonderfully illustrated and again, the children I have seen reading this book in the library clearly loved it.

This book is part of the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, which has more than 80 titles. The Stage 1 books explain simple and easily observable science concepts for preschool- and kindergarten-age children. Stage 2 books, which includes this title, explore more challenging concepts for children in the primary grades and include hands-on activities that children can do themselves. "Archaeologists Dig For Clues" is well-conceived and informative, with bright cartoon drawings. It is formatted a little like the "Magic School Bus" books, more for upper elementary kids.

A delightful book. My four year old son loves this story, I like that it is a quick book that he can follow easily. We have several books written by Kate Duke.