I had gotten this book out and set it by my computer so I’d finally remember to write it up. It caught my son’s eye, and he picked it up and started reading it. I asked him if he liked it, and he said he did. Since I knew that as an aged 3rd grader, he probably thought he was too old for it, I asked him who he thought the book would be best for. “You know, Marley-ish ages, kids that love Marley, like Kindergarten through 2nd grade.”
I agree with his assessment. Marley’s Storybook Treasury contains six books in one volume. Each story has a different color border around each page of it, which makes it colorful and gives it interest even when laying closed on the table. It’s cool seeing all those colors on the page. All but one of the stories are the “I can read” variety, so they only take up part of the page, leaving a good 3 inch space to be filled in with color. It also makes them perfect for emerging readers to follow along with, and to tackle themselves.
“Thanks Mom and Dad!” had bigger words and more text, and a larger format, since it came from a traditional picture book.
I’ve found that collections are a perfect way to convince kids that big books aren’t so intimidating, since they are broken up into smaller chunks that a child can easily manage on his or her own. Also, you can’t beat a collection for a gift with impact.
Jennifer is so happy to have little readers in her life, even if her kids are growing up. She blogs at Snapshot.