The Reader

The Reader

Specifics

APA Citation: Hest, A., & Castillo, L. (2012). The reader. Las Vegas, NV: Amazon Children's Publishing.

Meets EDU 333 Blog Requirement For: Published in the last four years.

Lexile Level: AD480L

Audience: For younger readers

Summary

This story is about a boy who climbs to the top of a snow hill with his dog, a sled, and a brown suitcase. When they get to the top, they play in the snow and share special warm treats together. Then, it is story time, and the boy reads a story to the dog. When it is over, they sled to the bottom of the hill and they are home together. 

Evaluation

This book is adorable. First, the author places an importance on reading, as the boy is called "the Reader" and the climax of the story is the boy reading the book to the dog. She also uses a lot of repeition, which gives the book a good flow to it, "The wind blows. Snow blows. The hill is very very tall. The top is far, far away." She also uses this to create a bit of suspense, especially because readers don't know what is in the brown suitcase and are axious to find out. Then when it is revealed, students will get excited like, "Wow...that must be a great book for him to go through all that work to read it at the top of the hill." Hopefully it excites the reader.

My favorite part of this book was the illustrations. Normally, I read the text first then look over the pictures, but for this book I couldn't help but look at the pictures first. They are bright because of the snow, you can see the dog and boy's love for each other, and overall the pictures are just gorgeous. Readers can practically feel the chill in the air that it portrays.

Mini Lesson

Because the photographs were my favorite part of this story, I would have the class draw a picture of a special event in their life. This will also help them realize that this event doesn't have to be a "once in a lifetime" thing like a vacation, a birthday party or a trip to an amusement park. It can be something as simple as taking your dog for a walk to the top of a snow hill.