Children’s Book Blogger Linda’s Book Bag has always been a wonderful supporter of our books and we are really grateful for her new review of Scary Scott by author Katie Dale and illustrator Irene Montano. This Early Reader is in our Gold Band and can be purchased here.
“What a lovely story from Katie Dale. Scott is so lonely and in need of friends that I’m certain there will be children reading this story who can relate to his predicament and who will gain courage and self-worth from knowing others experience the same emotions. The message that bullies are also scared when others stand up to them is important too. The themes in Scary Scott could be used as a stimulus for so much discussion with children and their parents and teachers.
I thought the division of Scary Scott into five chapters was perfect for emergent readers because they can have a sense of achievement in reading a complete chapter without being confronted by a whole book. There’s an excellent balance of text to picture and more sophisticated linguistic devices, such as parentheses, exclamation marks and ellipsis, model well the kind of choices children can make in their own writing. There’s also a good balance of vocabulary so that children can consolidate their reading.
I thought the illustrations were fabulous because the children in the story are depicted as mixed gender and race, giving equal status to all. I also loved the room Scott enters being a library as this helps remind children about reading even when they are just looking at the illustrations.
Scary Scott is a book filled with educational potential as well as being the kind of story children love, filled with vampires, ghosts and Halloween mayhem. I really recommend it.”
Thank you to Linda for the kind review. You can read the full review and many more here.
See information about all of the books in the scheme, order copies and download free audio files and activity packs here.