Digger the Dinosaur (My First I Can Read Series)

by Rebecca Dotlich, Gynux (Illustrator)

Overview

Digger the Dinosaur may be dino-size, but he has the heart of a preschooler. He loves to help but gets mixed up a lot.

In Digger the Dinosaur, Digger wants to play baseball with his friends. But he isn’t allowed to go out until he’s cleaned his room. Digger starts cleaning at top speed, but the faster he moves the messier his room gets. His big tail and big feet aren’t helping!

Will Digger win the race to tidy his room and get to the game on time? Young dinosaur fans will relate (as will their parents and caregivers).

Digger the Dinosaur is a My First I Can Read book, which means it’s perfect for shared reading with a child. Books at this level feature basic language, word repetition, and whimsical illustrations, ideal for sharing with emergent readers. The active, engaging stories have appealing plots and lovable characters, encouraging children to continue their reading journey.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062222213
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	07/30/2013
Series:	My First I Can Read Series
Pages:	24
Sales rank:	62,477
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.12(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Poet and picture book author Rebecca Kai Dotlich has written several children's books, including Grandpa Loves, illustrated by Kathryn Brown; Over in the Pink House: New Jump-Rope Rhymes, illustrated by Melanie Hall; and What is Science?, illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa. This is her first title in the I Can Read Book line. She lives in Indiana.

Editorial Reviews

Dotlich's text makes good use of assonance and internal rhymes to support new readers' decoding skills in this story about a dinosaur who needs to clean up his bedroom before he can go outside to play ball. Momasaur is displeased with the state of Digger's room, and when he asks if he can go play ball with his friend, Stego, she replies sternly, "No….Your room is a mess." Digger mistakes the word "mess" for "yes," but Stego corrects him, and in a spirit of friendly generosity, offers to help him clean up. Digger continues to fail to attend carefully to others' words as he confuses Stego's helpful directions, mishearing "hook" as "book" and "bones" as "stones." Then Stego becomes distracted and mistakes Momasaur's final direction to put "hats" away as putting "cats" away. Digger catches the mistake as the poor cats meow from within an armoire, and then they quickly free them and tidy up the hats before going outside to play ball. Cartoonish illustrations seem like they'd be right at home in an animator's studio, though background detail is a bit overdone and potentially distracting in a book with such a well-controlled text. A strong new series for brand-new readers. (Early reader. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews