Customer Reviews

Scholastic Reader Level 2: More Spaghetti, I Say!

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the cutest book I have come across in a long time. I checked this book out at our local library to read to my three-year-old son, and we liked it so much that I bought a copy. Minnie the monkey is bananas over spaghetti! The storyline is simple and interesting---and funny. My son wants me to read this to him every day, sometimes several times a day. I still find the thing amusing, even after having read it more times than I can count. There are a few additional benefits to owning this book. It opens up wonderful opportunities for discussion with your children on such topics as understanding the likes and dislikes of others, being a good playmate, the perils of overindulgience, and being considerate of other people's feelings. Not only that, but a little boy who wouldn't touch spaghetti before, now gladly eats a double portion! :)

This book reminded me of the old Dr Seus books. Our five year old and our two year old laughed at almost every page. They guessed the rhymes before we got to them. Reading and illustrations are great for beginning readers to follow along with. It's a light hearted fun book. It definetly will be one of our classics.

In reviewing this little work I do want the reader to know precisely where I am coming from. I love a read that children love to have read to them of course, but more importantly from a personal point of view, I agree fully with the little monkey who stars in this work and her attitude toward spaghetti.

"I have it on pancakes
with ice cream and ham.
With pickles and cookies,
bananas and jam.

I love it with mustard
and marshmallow stuff.
I eat it all day,
I just can't get enough!"

Yes, I do love my pasta; spaghetti in particular! I love eating the stuff and find it is a very fun good...even at my advanced age.

But about the book, with personal prejudices and likes aside:

This is a charming, simple and absolutely funny read. We have two friends. The little girl friend will not play with the little boy (they are portrayed and very cute monkeys by illustrator Mort Gerberg), as she is so enthusiastic about eating, cooking, playing with, and messing around with spaghetti.

The entire book is set in rhyme and is extremely effective in presenting simple, easy to read sentences while at the same time offering a very good and gradual vocabulary introduction.

The text goes perfectly with the lively illustrations and the combination of the two is exactly right! This is a very fun book to read with the grandchildren, and indeed, a fun book to read to a group of children.

Now I have noted that a couple of reviewers have taken exception to the fact that these are two very messy little kids (monkeys) in their eating habits and fear this little book may give kids the wrong impression as to table manners. Sigh, what I say? If pictures of monkeys acting out in one small book shatter your child's almost perfect manners, and if your child cannot tell the difference in "bad" behavior when they see it (I have found the vast, vast majority of children I have read this work to pick up on that immediately), then I might suggest that you may have other issues with your child you need to address.

I and the children (which have been many) give this one two thumbs up. It is a wonderful little read.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

We read this book to our 14 month old. He absolutely loves it. He has learned to say "Mmmm" on the appropriate page and there are so many pages that make him laugh out loud. The story is so cute, clever and funny. The illustrations are simple and enable our son to follow along without having to read. It's one that you won't mind reading over and over again. And what kid isn't fascinated by spaghetti?

This is one of the best books I have read for young children who like stories. This book is also wonderful for children just learning to read. I highly recommend this fabulous book!

What a wonderful story and one sure to please adults as well as children.

I needed a children's book to read to my college literature class to practice speaking in public. I chose this book because it was a fun read and a good story. My children absolutely loved the book. My class also loved the story.

I read it to my kids 20 years ago and bought this copy to read to my grandkids. Their parents had it memorized (and still do) - so be ready to read this one again and again and again. Luckily, you will want to do just that.

When my son was three, he made me read this book to him so many times that even now, 22 years later, I know the entire thing by heart.

Kids love this book. Parents do, too, at least the first 10 or 12 thousand times they read it to the kids!

I adored this book as a kid (I'm in my 30s now). I haven't gotten my new copy yet, but I think there is a lesson about temperance at the end, but that's not what I recall: I just remember the sheer joy of more, more, more. With books that use so few and such simple words, it's often hard for an adult to distinguish the adequate from the great. Speaking for my very young self, I can tell you that this book is great.