Eli Shares his First Book Review: Corey and Daisy-The Ball by Scott Clements
6May 28, 2013 by CassieCravings
I would like to proudly introduce the newest book reviewer in our family: 3 year-old Eli.
Last week, we ordered Corey and Daisy-The Ball by Scott Clements on Amazon. The moment we took the book out of the box, Eli was intrigued and immediately asked me to read it to him.
The next bit is where I would normally give my spill on a particular book as it relates to some of the many roles I play. In this case, Eli is taking on the perspective of the reader. And I am still holding onto my titles as “teacher” and “mother.”
As a Reader:
Here is Eli’s review of Corey and Daisy-The Ball by Scott Clements: CLICK FOR VIDEO
Overall, Eli’s take on the book, “It muh favorites.” We read it countless times, and it was his companion all weekend.
As a Teacher:
There is a sing-song rhythm throughout the book that Eli hummed along to as I read. Such rhyme and rhythm is spectacular for developing fluency. When an emergent reader hears the song of a story, he is understanding that words have a flow. Building fluency is directly linked to building comprehension.
Each page only has a few words. Because this is a mystery story, there are ample opportunities for predictions. Clements adds quite a bit of foreshadowing which also conjures up the natural question, “What could happen next?”
Corey and Daisy-The Ball pairs many words with the illustration laid out closely to the written word. When a child sees the word “ball” and a picture of a ball, he begins to associate that picture with that word. Soon he will be able to sight read the word “ball” without the visual clue.
As a Mama:
Raising an avid baby book-lover, little Eli’s favorite activity is to grab a book and a cuddle. We pour over our books. We “ooh” and “ahh” at the illustrations. He will stop me in the middle of the book, so that he can create his own ending. After his own acted-out conclusion, he will ask to hear the book again…and again…and again.
This weekend alone we read Clements’ book at least half a dozen times. The captivating illustrations, the sing-song rhythm and the precious story kept it fresh and enjoyable…even on the 902834089 time we “star’ded it o’bur froms ‘da fwront.”
Reading with my son are some of my most cherished times. I bury my face deep into his curls. He rubs my hand. We fall back into the comfort of one another and let a magical story transport us into a world of imagination that we share just with one another.
Corey and Daisy-The Ball has been a beautiful edition to our home library. As a reader, as a teacher and as a mama, I would highly recommend it.
And more importantly so would my little book worm.
my little book worm
mamacravings 
It is so exciting to see our little ones fall in love with books, isn’t it? My daughter loves to be read to. She actually reads aloud pretty fluently, too, so I know she can do it. She just hasn’t gotten to the point of really enjoying a book independently. I guess she still prefers the cuddle time. I’m not complaining. The day will come all too soon when she doesn’t want the cuddles. I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.
Ooh! I hope my little man will still cuddle and read to me when he’s able to read all by his big boy self 🙂
We are raising good little book worms!
We used to read to Corey every night and soooo enjoyed the cuddle time. Now he’s 11, and he still let’s me curl up with him and read a chapter or two of a book at bed time.
It always makes me all-mama-teary-eyed when I hear of a big boy still appreciating a good cuddle 🙂
…of course my brothers are all over 6-foot and still try to crawl in my mama’s lap. Lol
Oh, my gosh, that video is too cute! “I can’t! It’s too loud!” That little guy is going to be leagues ahead once he starts school…book reviews, recognizing titles and main characters…good job, Mama!
He is a lot of fun 🙂 The look he gives “to” the thunder had me giggling.
Thank you! It’s all him :)) He runs with it, and I run with him.