Finny Finds Friends in the Forest: Letter-Soung * Listen and Retell Adventure

These books are great! I can't fathom why online sellers are asking $195 when the publisher (ReadmeAtori) charges $15.95 for the book and audio CD.

'Finny' is a top notch children's book!As a mother and then a grandmother, I have read a fair number of children's books. Or should I say I have read a number of fair books for children? Finny Finds Friends in the Forest is not one I'd call fair. It's clearly top of the line. Finny has everything an adult might hope for in a picture book for young children: simple Dr. Seuss-like rhyming story, beautiful watercolor illustrations and aids for reading comprehension. Just as important, it has everything that will appeal to a child who falls into the 3-to-8-year-old category. The picture book offers wit, charm, humor and learning opportunities. Finny is a fish, a fabulous fish that lives in a fishbowl placed on a fireplace in a farmhouse. His companion is a farmer's wife who plays the fiddle for Finny and a couple of frolicking ferrets. Are authors, the Tini Sisters, focusing on the letter F? You betcha. Their story continues its love affair with F as Finny escapes his watery home and tries out life in the forest. Credit goes to the sisters, Mair Tini Luchetti and Mariellen Tini Sluko, for writing a gentle story young children will understand. But then they have the right background: Mair is an award-winning poet, certified reading specialist, and a teacher of kindergarten and first grade for more than 10 years. Her sister is an elementary school principal who taught second grade for more than a decade. Still, no small amount of applause is due Erin Marie Mauterer, the illustrator, for her colorful and imaginative, laugh-aloud drawings. Her farmwife has twig-thin arms and legs and a long, carrot-like nose. She crawls under the carpet to stir up dust clouds with her feather duster. She is just plain funny. Mauterer finds many F-word items for a child to discover: a flashy frog carrying a football and a flyswatter, a flamingo standing in a flowerbed and those furry ferrets that track Finny into the forest. Finny Finds Friends in the Forest comes with a 15 minute CD, which features the dramatized story and sing-along songs. There is a guide for parents and factual information about fish. It is published by Atori Publishing of Olyphant, Pa. Review by Jeannine Schaub in Iowa's Boone News-Republican (Thursday, Feb. 6, 2003, Vol. 138, No.21).

I would highly recommend this book to any parent with children in preschool, kindergarten or first grade. It is filled with fun things to do with your child. My son, who is three years old, loves to sit on my lap and have me read the story to him. I never seem to get through a page without him pointing and naming all the pictures on the page (i.e., fish, fox, frogs, flowers, football, etc.)He's just beginning now to make the connection that all these pictures start with the same sound. The colors in the book are bright and colorful and we are always finding letters and words that are hidden on the pages.He also loves listening to the Audio CD. He has me play it every night when he goes to bed. We also play it in the car and the whole family enjoys it. It has the story acted out with great sound effects and the songs have such a great beat that you can't help but hum and sing along.This book offers more for parents and children than you can even imagine. The book is loaded with interactive activities that you and your children can do together! Have fun!

Collaborative written by The Tini Sisters and enhanced with the lively, full-color artwork of Erin Marie Mauterer, Finny Finds Friends In The Forest is a "letter-sound, listen and retell" adventure picture book written expressly to help children improve their reading skills, as well as entertain them. In addition to the whimsical text, which features plenty of alliteration of words starting with the letter "f", Finny Finds Friends In The Forest features a page of "retelling pictures" which children can use to retell the story in their own words, a brief section of "facts about fish" to emphasize the difference between the make-believe fish in the story and real fishes in the world. Enhanced for young readers with an audio CD of sing-along songs, Finny Finds Friends In The Forest is a brightly colored, child friendly tale that is fun to read aloud!