Book reviews - learning to read - Ruby Tuesday

See also our range of non-fiction books from Ruby Tuesday

	Is It True that Birds are Dinosaurs? (Ruby Tuesday Readers: The Dinosaur Club) Dinosaur eggs and babies, battling dinosaurs, earth-shaking giants, fossils and fossil hunters – children love dinosaurs and will be keen to build their reading confidence with these exciting and engaging readers at book band green. This is an attractive series of small format books with clear layout and an engaging series of topics. As well as developing reading skills, children's knowledge of these creatures, and of those who discover them, will be greatly enhanced. With 10 different titles to choose from, there's plenty here to give lots of reading practice as well as to inform children about these fascinating creatures. The well presented books are levelled for children reading Book Band: Green. The illustrations are effectively labelled, to help learning and the development of study skills. As well as carefully selected text and excellent illustrations, each book in the series has an easy to use picture glossary, perfect for the age, as well as a quiz to check understanding and tips for parents. Together, the books provide an excellent introduction to many different aspects of dinosaurs.


	The Dinosaur Club 2019: The Dinosaur Club - 10 book set The non-fiction text in this series has been developed by literacy experts to produce readers that children will choose to read. Fantastic 3D dinosaur artwork is a great complement to the text. THe series links to the Science, STEM and non-fiction reading curriculum.
	Monster Megan's BIG Tidy Up (Ruby Tuesday Readers: Busy Monsters) by Dee Reid This is one of a set of four titles book banded yellow. Each book will help to build reading confidence by combining repetitive, predictable text with high-frequency and familiar sight words. Every book has a specific theme which adds to the learning value; the theme of Monster Megan's BIG Tidy up is shapes. Monster Mo's BIG Party looks at colours; Monster Max's BIG Breakfast features numbers; and opposites are the theme of Monster Molly's BIG Day Out. This is an excellent way to add learning value to the series. The books are illustrated with bright bold child-friendly collage-style artwork that can be well employed to encourage discussion about the story. After the story, a two page spread focuses on the theme of the book. At the end of each book, a series of questions checks children's memory and understanding and there are also simple words to read. The friendly monsters have good child appeal and the simple repetitive text is perfect for those beginning to read. The extra element brought to the series by the theme is very useful.

	Wildlife Watchers: Bumblebee Book Band BLUE It's great to see a whole set of non-fiction readers. So many children prefer non-fiction, and by reading these books, they will really be building up their knowledge of the animal kingdom. These attractive small format books are packed with colourful photos which complement the informative text. This series of book-banded reading books gives young students a fascinating peek into the secret worlds of some much-loved, native wild animals. Written in an engaging narrative style, students will discover all about the little creatures that live in our gardens, school playgrounds, parks, hedgerows and woodlands. It's a superb way to encourage an interest in the natural world at the same time as mastering the high frequency words. Obviously, in a series like this, there will be plenty of unfamiliar vocabulary, and children's learning is supported by images and labels as well as by the excellent picture glossary which is a feature of every book. It's really good that the series focuses on familiar creatures and the books will make excellent library resources and will be invaluable for topic work. Quiz questions and notes for teachers and parents add to the learning value of these excellent books which will really encourage a love for reading.

	Wildlife Watchers: Toad Book Band Orange This series of book-banded reading books gives young students a fascinating peek into the secret worlds of some much-loved, native wild animals. Written in an engaging narrative style, students will discover all about the little creatures that live in our gardens, school playgrounds, parks, hedgerows and woodlands. Key features include High frequency words, Unfamiliar vocabulary supported by images and labels, Picture glossary, Quiz questions and notes for teachers and parents.

	Wildlife Watchers: Long-Tailed Tit Book Band Purple

	Whose Little Baby Are You? Book Band Blue This is another excellent series of readers which will really encourage children to get to grips with reading, so that they can answer the question posed in the title of each book, and get to know more about the wonderful creatures that inhabit our world. It's good to see that this series focuses on animals from around the world, making it an excellent complement to the series reviewed above. Again, the books are small format and make good use of exceptional colour photography to really engage children's attention. The carefully selected main text is well complemented by text labels, and children are introduced to unfamiliar words through the picture glossary (words are highlighted in bold to help children). There is also a quiz in each book to ensure children have fully understood what they read. Another really good series which works perfectly both as early readers and as early reference books.

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