Bruce Johnson (4) (1956–)

The main purpose behind this book is to teach phonics to its young readers while capturing their attention by having it set in a very familiar setting, the zoo. I liked this book, one, because of the real photographs used at its illustrations. The pictures are of actual animals that can be seen at the zoo. Real pictures like these intrigue the reader; it's always interesting to see real imagery. I liked the specially chosen vocabulary of the book as well. The book is written for that K-2 grader learning and perfecting their reading skills and the vocabulary is not to easy but also not too challenging. Words are bold and in color as the book continues to help the reader as well. They're aren't too many words on one page to confuse the struggling reader either. The book flows even though it is designed with few words and not really a strong story line.… (altro)

A Day at the Zoo is a Level 7 We Read Phonics book introducing vowel combinations “ou” and “ow” (as in “out” and “owl”), “oi” and “oy” (“oil” and “boy”), and “oo” and “oo” (“book” and “cool”).

The book provides rich framing information and activities for parents as they help their child read and engage with the text. There is information on how to conduct a story walk, advice on reading aloud together, and instructions for several word games. The book lists the company website where game materials can be printed, and also gives instructions for making the game materials with paper and marker.

The story itself is somewhat uninspired as its purpose is to emphasize certain vowel sounds rather than present a compelling narrative. Readers will find basic information about zoo animals such as, “Some reptiles like to stay wet. They can be found in the reptile pool,” but they will be disappointed if they were hoping for fun facts or more scientific information.

The book’s illustrations are engaging, combining large color photographs of zoo animals with cartoon drawings of diverse children. Parents and teachers using the Phonics method with children will be interested in this book. Recommended.… (altro)

Johnson has years of experience at all school levels in involving parents in their child’s reading. He has assembled in this book and accompanying CD hundreds of ideas with handouts and letters to parents ready to print out or modify on the CD. The book’s value is in the variety of ideas that can be considered for your own outreach to parents. What works? What doesn’t? Most of the activities will appeal to parents who have the time to be involved in their children’s and teen’s reading lives and that is an audience to reach first. Teacher librarians and classroom teachers plus reading specialists will want to develop their own repertoire of techniques that work with the parents of their school – first with the parents who want to be involved and then reaching out to the caregivers who lack both time, skill, or seeming disinterest. This book is recommended along with a variety of other titles from which an idea bank can be created. We need another author who has worked successfully in an inner-city school successfully to record the best ideas that they have found successful.… (altro)