Easy Reader Round-Up #3

Can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve done one of these! I’m loving how quick and easy easy readers are to reconnect me with kid lit right now, and great for thinking about how I can serve my developing readers. Let’s dive into some easy readers releasing between December 2023 and June 2024!

Gigi and Ojiji: Perfect Paper Cranes by Melissa Iwai

This is a Level 3 Easy Reader in the popular “Gigi and Ojiji” series, the first of which was a Geisel award winner. It’s the Japan Day Festival, and Ojiji is helping at the origami table. Gigi wants to make a crane, but everyone tells her it will be hard. After making a puppy, she’s ready to do the crane…but her crane isn’t as good as Ojiji’s. This is a quick, sweet tale with incorporation of Japanese vocabulary about perseverance and being bad at things when you start them, which is always important for developing readers. This easy reader releases in May 2024!

Dot the Ladybug: The Missing Spot by Kallie George, illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman

This is a “Shared Reading” pre-Level 1 easy reader. It’s a cutesy, maybe too-rhyme-y book about a ladybug who helps a dog named Spots find his missing “dot” but the dot is the center of his donut. You see where this is going. It’s cute, some 3 year olds might giggle at it, but it’ll make parents roll their eyes. This easy reader releases in June 2024.

Sketty and Meatball by Sarah Weeks, illustrated by Alex Willmore

This is a level 1 easy reader about two dogs–one big and fluffy and one small and pug-like, who do everything together. They sleep, and bark at cats, but on this day, they decide to do something different and go to the dog show where they see all types of dogs. This’ll be good for classes working on same/different and opposites, but was overall pretty forgettable. I’m kind of over “odd couple animals” as the whole plot of books. This book releases in June 2024.

The Cozy Home: 3 and a Half Stories by Ame Dyckman and Mark Teague

This is a graphic novel, unleveled easy reader with “chapters.” It’s another “odd couple animal story” with three animals: a rat, a cat, and a bat, living together in a house. We have a quickie little story about choosing rooms, about playing with a dead mouse, and about reading. It’s very repetitive with the dialogue, which will work for certain readers, but I found the illustrations of the animals a little unappealing. This book releases February 2024.

Og Meets Mog by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Elio.

This is a pre-level 1 easy reader. Og, a sort of monster boy thing, is “nice” and decides to help a creature caught in ice. We see his plan unfold, his attempts, and finally he melts the ice and out comes a cat! This is a purely rhyming book–Og is nice, Og and Mog is twice as nice, now their home is free of mice kind of rhyming, you know what I mean? Works well for reading aloud, and a pretty different illustration style comapred to a lot of non-IP project easy readers. This book releases January 2024.

Parker’s Big Feelings by Parker and Jessica Curry, illustrated by Brittany Jackson and Tajae Keith

This is a level 1 easy reader that features Parker Curry, best known for her picture book about/famous moment with the Michelle Obama portrait. In this book, Parker is overwhelmed by a hard day at her new school and feeling far away from her friends and Dad, so she and her mom find 3 ways to connect with herself and handle her big feelings, including exercise, quiet time, and deep breathing. This’ll be a good tie-in for mindfulness, and the illustrations of people are really beautiful!This book releases December 2023.