Ball by Mary Sullivan

Sullivan, M. (2013). Ball. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.


Ball is the story of a ball-obsessed dog that very energetically tries to get others to play with him while his owner is away at school. The personality of the dog really shines through even though there are no words other than ball. He seems like a fun, good-natured, and excitable pet! The only word used in the book is the word ball which would make this book very easy for beginning readers to read. A teacher could use this book to focus on the story by “reading” the pictures which would be ideal for new readers or English Language Learners. Even though this book won the Geisel Award for beginning readers, the book could easily be used in grades 2-4 for inferencing. Students could use the pictures to infer character traits and feelings and future events. Even though this book is rather simplistic given the one word repetition throughout I think it would be enjoyable for young students. The illustrations are expressive and engaging. Overall, I liked Ball although it probably would not be on the list of my favorite picture books.

(Photo from www.amazon.com)

The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli

Pizzoli, G. (2013). The watermelon seed. New York, NY: Disney Hyperion Books.


The Watermelon Seed is a fun, easy to read picture book about a crocodile that accidentally swallowed a watermelon seed. He fears the seed will grow into a whole watermelon inside his stomach until he’s able to get the seed back out. The main character, the crocodile, is simplistically drawn and his emotions are exaggerated by his facial expressions which children would love. He is child-like which would attract young readers. The main colors of the book are pink, green, and black to reflect the look of a watermelon. I especially enjoyed the cover of the book and the inside end papers as they mimicked the outside and inside of an actual watermelon. This book would be a great read aloud for younger readers because the author uses bold, exciting words. This book also lends itself to shared reading because students could read the words along with the teacher to practice sight words and expression. I can see why this book won the Geisel Award for beginning readers because the story is straight forward and vocabulary is perfect for emergent readers. I enjoyed reading The Watermelon Seed for it’s cute story and simple, but interesting illustrations. On a side note, my 4 year old son absolutely LOVED this book! He laughed along as I read and even worried about swallowing a seed the very next day as we were eating watermelon! 

(Photo from www.gregpizzoli.com)