Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Blissful Bailey


Bailey
Written by Harry Bliss
Illustrated by David Saylor & Charles Kreloff
Scholastic, 2011
30 pages
Fantasy

            My son LOVES dogs, so when I saw this book I thought he would enjoy reading it.  I was right.  Hey, if my homework involves children’s literature, my book choices might as well serve multiple purposes.  This particular book is about a dog named Bailey.  Bailey is different from other dogs because he goes to school.  Bailey dresses and runs to the bus like most children do each morning.  The book details Bailey’s school day from math to recess and all the other fun stuff in between.  Bailey loves to dig and he gets off track at times.  In fact, the way Bailey gets distracted easily reminds me of some of my students this semester.

            The water color cartoon illustrations are really cute.  Bailey has sweet peaceful eyes and a really big nose.  The illustrations are colorful and detailed.  Most of the colors are in the primary family and really draw the eye to the pages.  The text is on the illustrations in an informal way.  I really enjoyed the way the author put the word bubbles in the story, so we could see what the human students are thinking.  The text is a primary type; it is bold and stands out on the page for young readers.

            A preschool through first or second grade reader will enjoy this book.  It has bright colors and is easy to read and understand.  This book would be good for a behavior lesson on how to focus on the task at hand rather than getting distracted.  One could use this book for a language arts lesson as students read the story aloud in class, then write in their journals about what they think a day with Bailey would be like.  A science lesson on dogs would also work well with the story.  Among other awards, Bailey received the Parents’ Choice Award for Picture Books in 2011 and is recognized under Best Books by the Chicago Parent magazine.

Harry Bliss Draws Bailey

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