Customer Reviews

The Best Place to Read

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"A new book for me-/I can't wait to read!/I run to my own little chair./I'm growing too tall and the seat is too small,/So I am not comfortable there." Now where is the perfect place for our young narrator to read his new book? He looks all over the house and even outside, but can't quite find just the right spot. Grammy's soft, cozy chair is being used by Rover, and he's not sharing. Daddy's chair is under the cold, blowing ceiling fan, and his brother's beanbag chair has sprung a leak. The kitchen's too sticky and messy, Grandpa's chair has sprung a spring, and though the backyard is warm and sunny, the sprinklers come on as soon as he settles in and now it's too wet out there. "I dry myself off./I give up, I can't read./I've tried to sit down everywhere./With no reading done, I'm still on page one-/I can't find a comfortable chair!" Debbie Bertram and Susan Bloom's clever, rhyming text is engaging and full of bouncy energy, and complemented by Michael Garland's bold, bright, and playful illustrations. Each page dazzles with vibrant color, marvelous facial expressions, and humor as our frustrated hero is thwarted again and again as he runs from room to room looking for just the right place to read. With a sweet ending to set everything right, The Best Place To Read is a heartwarming, joyous romp preschoolers will beg to read again and again. "Mommy, oh, Mom!/May I sit on your lap?/I love it so much when we share." The best place to be, just my book, Mom, and me-/At last.../In a comfortable chair."

Wonderful poetry, excellent pictures, and fabulous message. This is a must-read for all little kids and their parents.

I was looking for a first/baby book, this one is for someone a little older. I would read it to an older toddler - 3-4 years old. It's got a sweet premise, with a child looking for the best place to read, and engaging drawings. I just wanted a simpler book and ended up not giving this one as a gift, but donating it to my local school instead.

This is the book I keep on hand for a new baby gift. It gives the parents and child a cute message on how important it is to read to children at an early age. I was introduced to the book at a children's literature conference. I have gotten many thank yous years and years after the newborn was in school! Even though I am a retired kindergarten teacher - I am still contributing to early childhood eduaction! :-)

Wonderful poetry, excellent pictures, and fabulous message. This is a must-read for all little kids!

No no no! This author has the premise all wrong. Looking for a place to read and pointing out all the problems is not a good message to give early readers or pre-readers.

As a mom and grandmother I want all my offspring and beyond to be happy to have a book anytime and anyplace, even in the most uncomfortable situations in the car next to the sister who is making weird noises.

The story children find in a book takes them into a new place in their mind, and they are no longer in the wobbly chair or near the gurgling coffee pot. Though I give the author points for effort, with a flawed premise where can one go?

Wonderful illustrations! It is a great book to introduce reading logs for home reading. I plan to use it to encourage reading in different spots in the classroom as well.

I used this book in one of my Reader's Workshop lessons to talk about different places to read. My students reallly enjoyed this book and it sparked lots of discussions on where they like to enjoy books.

The book on its own is fine, but when I recently read an article that said the authors had originally intended the protagonist to be a girl but changed their minds because they "learned that boys will read about boys and girls will read about both boys and girls", I was very disappointed. That kind of thinking will contribute to ever minimizing girls and women. Why not have featured a girl protagonist and worked a little harder to have made that character interesting to both boys and girls?