Carl and the Kitten by Alexandra Day - ADVISABLE

Day, Alexandra.  Carl and the Kitten.  Square Fish (MacMillan's Children Publishing Group), 2011. $15.99.  PICTURE BOOK.  This is a book in the My Readers early reader book series.  My review is based on my experience as a father of a five-year-old boy just learning to read.  In the book, Carl the dog must save a kitten that is stuck in a tree.  I like this book.  It is a good story.  Some of the early reader books contain names that kids don't recognize, but they are in the book because a child might be able to sound them out.  I am of the opinion that it's better if the child recognizes the name than be able to sound it out because pulling from prior knowledge is more important than being able to sound out easily but still be confused about what the word is saying.  Carl in this book is a great choice of name.  I know that repetition is good, but sometimes early reader books are too repetitive; in fact, my son sometimes says, "It just said that," because it is too repetitive.  This book uses repetition, but does it in a creative and less obvious way.  This is a good choice for a LEVEL 1 early reader.   Pre-K, EL(K-3) - ADVISABLE.  Brent Smith, Reading Teacher