The Little Cookie

This cute little book is a retelling of the old story of the magical gingerbread man. This book was written as part of the Beginning-to-Read series, a series of books that use familiar stories to help expand the young reader's vocabulary. Indeed, this book is more than just the story, at the end is a "Reading Reinforcement" section with suggested activities to help further the child's learning. This is a very useful book, one that is richly illustrated and entertaining, while at the same time being educational. I think that this is a great book, entertaining and educational.

a * and * at * away * big * can * come * cookie * down * fun * funny * get * go * good * help * here * house * I * in * into * is * it * jump * little * look * make * me * my * no *not * now * oh * one * play * run * see * something * the * this * three * to * two * up * want * we * what * work * you

This book is the familiar story of the journey of the spunky gingerbread boy and his inevitable demise. Its simplistic language and predictable storyline not only captivate the young reader, but also reinforce the use of necessary first words to build a fluent reading vocabulary. The colorful illustrations further enable the child to use context clues to successfuly match appropriate words to the action of the story. I would highly recommend this title, as well as other Margaret Hillert books as first readers. The Little Cookie will get a child moving in the right direction in a whole language approach to developing reading skills.