Time Machine
2.0 out of 5 stars Not A Good Beginning Reader, May 14, 2005
If you wanted a picture book for a toddler on ways to get around this would be an okay one. The pictures are colorful and interesting and would hold a young child's attention. I, myself, particularly like that they have a wheelchair as one of the ways to transport oneself.

However, this is supposed to be a beginning reader. The publishers'/author's themselves say that the Level A books are "for emergent readers..." with sentences that are short and simple-- which is true. Many of the pages have just one word: Boat, train, skates, wagon, bus, etc.

The problem with this approach, however, is that a single word is not a complete sentence and the words they have chosen to illustrate are not ones that a beginning reader is likely to encounter again in the near future. Thus, if they learn these difficult words they will not have any practice to reinforce that knowledge.

Summary: Though this book is not a good beginning reader, it might be okay for a baby or toddler that likes the idea of `going'. For a better reader try the Margaret Hillert series which are based on commonly known fairytales such as Tom Thumb. Or, of course, there is Dick and Jane. ( )