A Pet for a Princess (Disney Princess)

I bought this for my 2.5 year old daughter. She likes the story (she was Princess Jasmine for Halloween and her baby brother was Rajah) and is trying to read it. The pictures are clear and colorful. The words are simple. It's the right length. Good buy

A Step 2 reader is described as being for children "Reading with Help". In the case of "A Pet for a Princess" I think we can say that this book will appeal to a broader audience. First, this book will probably appeal to non-reading preschoolers who are interested in Jasmine and Rajah, her pet tiger. For older children - or advanced preschoolers who are beginning to read - I believe it will grab their interest, but that they will most certainly need adult help in tackling the text. For one thing, not all of the sentences are simple. Some are compound. But more importantly, some of the vocabulary is going to be downright challenging. There are words like: friend, lonely, things, together, watched, butterflies, played, brushed, scratch, furry, harm, cozy, asleep, and the like. And having just given a basic 100 Frequently Used Word test to a class of first graders, I can tell you that at more than half of them would not be able to sound out the above words. So this book might not be at the right level at the moment, even given the pictorial cues. But given the 'princess-y" content, it's probably safe to assume that it eventually will be, and in the meantime there are the lovely pictures and a story you can read. A few lines of text (from six consecutive pages) follow so you can judge for yourself: Jasmine liked to rub and scratch his furry belly. Rajah liked it, too! Purrrrr! The princess kept Rajah safe from harm. And she loved to play dress-up with him. Four Stars. Edge to Edge color. A Step 2 book, this one is geared for Preschoolers, Kindergartners and First Graders who can identify some words but in most cases will need an adult to help them get through the entire story. The story is simple and it told in large text with mostly short sentences.

This is a great book for little girls learning to read. It's a story about how Princess Jasmine (of Aladdin fame) got her pet tiger, Rajah. The story, complete with big colorful pictures and short sentences with picture cues for beginning readers, tells of the relationship between the princess and her tiger as he grew up from cub to a big tiger. It's a sweet tale that little girls who have pets will especially enjoy. Disney Princess-obsessed preschoolers will love it and be able to manage the basic vocabulary in their quest to be readers. They can easily pick out which words they know by sight and sound out other small words phonetically. What is especially great is the repetition of certain phrases that help the beginning reader gain confidence.