Three by the Sea (Puffin Easy-To-Read)

Rating:
Summary: Fun story, great humor, and a wonderful teaching tool!
Review: "Three by the Sea," from the classic children's book team of the Marshalls, is a wonderful book for second grade readers (or advanced first graders) that offers up a funny story with a humorous sense of parody. This is a children's book that actually makes fun of children's books. Any young reader who is sick and tired of 'basal readers' (you know, those dull, "The man has a tan can; The dog is on the log," kind of books) will love this story. But best of all, adults will enjoy reading it along with their child. This is a perfect book to experience with your child to help them learn to read on their own. (I used to teach second graders how to read, and this was always their favorite book - they really got into it and loved reading it out loud along with me as we acted it out.)

The book follows three children, Lolly, Spider, and Sam, as they sit on the beach and tell each other stories, with each child trying to out-do the others. The three stories they tell are all gems:

LOLLY'S STORY: A parody of the typical boring school reader. Nothing happens. A Cat and a Dog see a Rat. That's it. Spider and Sam don't like the story one bit, but it's extremely funny to read the simplistic, dull writing style and look at the stick-figure pictures. You can have fun with your child by reading this out loud in the most boring monotone voice you can, and then ask them if they thought it was a good story. They'll agree with Spider and Sam. It's BAAAAD!

SAM'S STORY: Challenged by Lolly to come up with something better - as long as it has a cat and rat in it - Sam creates this funny little story about a very foolish rat who buys a cat at a pet store. The cat won't tell the rat what it is that he really likes to eat... You can have great fun with this story by having your child read the parts out loud and giving the cat and rat different voices. You can also ask them to try to predict what might happen. What do YOU think the cat really likes to eat? (You're in for a funny surprise.)

SPIDER'S STORY. Well, Spider didn't like the twist ending to Sam's story, so he offers up his own cat-rat tale...and he'll make it SCARY as well! With great, serious drama, a rather silly-looking Godzilla-like monster rises from the sea ("And he was really mean!") Is he hungry for...a rat? No! Cheese? No! A cat? No! He likes kids...on toast!...and in fact he sees three kids sitting on the beach telling stories... This is a really fun piece to read out loud with spooky voices, and the repetition of phrases make it a great one for your child to practice reading on his or her own. Provide a big scary voice for the narrator, and your child will be laughing hysterically. (Don't worry, though. It all comes out all right in the end, and who can take the funny illustrations seriously? This is one goofy looking monster, especially when walking on his tip-toes!)

I can't recommend this book highly enough for second graders. You'll have fun reading it along with them, and it teaches great reading skills while offering up something much different from the usual run-of-the-mill kids story. A terrific tool for teaching at home and having quality educational time and play time with your child. Just watch out for those really mean monsters.

And that is that!

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious Easy Reader -- Fun on Several Levels
Review: This is the story of Lolly, Spider and Sam, three kids who have just eaten lunch and have to wait a while before they can go swimming. To pass the time, they decide to tell each other stories about rats and cats.

The first story, Lolly's, is a dead-on parody of an old-style phonics reader:

'The cat sat by the rat. "I see him," said the cat. "I see the rat."

The rat saw the cat. "I see him," said the rat. "I see the cat." And that was that.'

Spider and Sam naturally hate this story, and they work to top each other with much more entertaining stories, always about cats and rats. This is one of my favorite kids' books, by one of my favorite kids' author/illustrators, the late, great James Marshall.

I think it's an overlooked classic -- even better than some of Marshall's more popular works (such as the "George and Martha" series), and right up there with his other masterpieces: "Miss Nelson Comes Back" (written with Harry Allard) and "Fox and His Friends". All three feature very funny and surprising twist endings.

If you find you like this book as much as I do, you'll want to check out its two sequels: "Four by the Shore" and "Three Up a Tree". Those are also highly enjoyable, but this one is the creme de la creme.

Parents: This is a book they will love, although you may love it more. School librarians: BUY THIS BOOK! Publisher: Please restore this to print in a library-binding edition!

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious Easy Reader -- Fun on Several Levels
Review: This is the story of Lolly, Spider and Sam, three kids who have just eaten lunch and have to wait a while before they can go swimming. To pass the time, they decide to tell each other stories about rats and cats.

The first story, Lolly's, is a dead-on parody of an old-style phonics reader:

'The cat sat by the rat. "I see him," said the cat. "I see the rat."

The rat saw the cat. "I see him," said the rat. "I see the cat." And that was that.'

Spider and Sam naturally hate this story, and they work to top each other with much more entertaining stories, always about cats and rats. This is one of my favorite kids' books, by one of my favorite kids' author/illustrators, the late, great James Marshall.

I think it's an overlooked classic -- even better than some of Marshall's more popular works (such as the "George and Martha" series), and right up there with his other masterpieces: "Miss Nelson Comes Back" (written with Harry Allard) and "Fox and His Friends". All three feature very funny and surprising twist endings.

If you find you like this book as much as I do, you'll want to check out its two sequels: "Four by the Shore" and "Three Up a Tree". Those are also highly enjoyable, but this one is the creme de la creme.

Parents: This is a book they will love, although you may love it more. School librarians: BUY THIS BOOK! Publisher: Please restore this to print in a library-binding edition!