Max and Ruby Play School »

Ruby wants to teach Max all the things a wise big sister knows, such as the alphabet, numbers, and colors. But first she has to teach him to pay attention!

Karen Leggett - Children's Literature

This rebus "Picture Reader" offers familiar characters with their marvelously telling expressions and a funny story to encourage children to build their reading skills. Each rebus word is re-created as a flash card at the back of the book; they can be cut out and used in games that reinforce such vocabulary words as "chairs," "table," "ball," "duck." The story line is probably a bit too stereotypical-it is sister Ruby who is eager to play school and be the teacher; it is brother Max who would much rather play with his cars. But at least both Ruby and Max know that the best way to get children excited about learning is to incorporate what they love-Max counts his cars and when they are looking for something red, of course there is a red car right in Max's hand. And Ruby is wise enough to know when to quit-instead of embarking on a new lesson in telling time, "maybe we can just play race cars." One detail is amiss in a book for these earliest readers: the boat identified as purple looks very pink. Picture Readers are the first level of readers in Grosset & Dunlap's "Station Stop" series; they are followed by "Beginning to Read" books, "Reading with Help," and "Reading Alone." There are multiple fiction and nonfiction titles at each level. 2003, Grosset & Dunlap,