The Prince Left His Prints Book

Photographs and simple text present homonyms, words that sound the same but have different meanings.

Marilyn Courtot - Children's Literature

In these nonfiction readers for kids, basic concepts that apply to both reading and writing are emphasized. In this offering in the series "Write on!" readers are introduced to homophones. Words that sound alike but that are spelled differently and have different meanings. Each spread has one page with a very short sentence and a picture to clearly demonstrate the concept. For example, readers see that Mai is wearing a pale yellow shirt while the opposing page shows a baby with a pail and shovel. The selections are interesting and will appeal to beginning readers and the kids depicted represent the diversity found in this country. The final text page asks the reader a question (The answer is provided.). All of the words found in the book are recapped in lists as to their appropriate part of speech (accompanied by definitions of noun, adjective, and verb), a pronunciation guide and the page number where the word appears. The final page asks kids to match up the pictures and words (all of which have been covered in the text). A useful book for teachers and one that can broaden its reach across the curriculum. The books are leveled so the concepts are more complicated in the more advanced books. This one is in the Level 2 series. 2002, Sandcastle/ABDO, Ages 5 to 6.