Grade 1 is when children enter the “real” school i.e. elementary school. This is when things start getting serious and games, toys, naps and other “baby” stuff related to kindergarten are things of the past.
On page 1, the authors introduce Ms. Best (Mrs. Good was the teacher in “Let’s Get Ready for Kindergarten“) who tells the reader this wonderful message,
“You are unique, which means not like anyone else…”
Another cast of characters from the “Cedar Valley kids” is introduced: Barack, Chan, Dallas, Minda, Gabriell, Sam and Yodie the coyote before kids get to know vowels, consonants and long and short vowel sounds.
A point of note is the subtle colouring for the vowels contained in the alphabet – a great way to know immediately if your child is colour blind. Provided he already knows vowels from consonants, the colour-blind child may not be able to tell you that they are a different shade from the rest of the letters.
I love the big, bold-coloured illustrations that accompany the learning of new words and concepts – they definitely make reading the book an appealing one!
Also, the book is sturdy and well-laminated to withstand clumsy fingers flipping through the pages quickly. The slick surface also allows more interaction from the kids as they can scribble using felt tip markers.
Yodie the coyote plays a bigger role here in making things realistic i.e. rolling on a tube to show that it’s a cylinder in use, flossing his fangs, eating 1/6 of a pizza, wearing a watch and being a judge!
If the authors are out to challenge assumptions, casting a wily coyote as a judge is certainly a brave and bold attempt LOL
I was hoping to see more of the children from various cultural backgrounds but they hardly made an impact in the book. Other than the Comic San Serif font, which I’d already mentioned in the earlier book review , I couldn’t make any sense out of the coloured tabs found on every page.
For further editions, the author may want to consider making more use out of the coloured tabs instead of using them for the sake of having a colourful book 
Get a copy for your first grader today:
Let’s Get Ready for First Grade! by Linda Desimowich and Stacey Kannenberg
ISBN: 1-933476-10-9
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