I Love Reading Phonics: Tick-Tock Books – Level 3
A series of educational books by Tick Tock Books featuring level three reading. A brief summary of the books and their word focus are included below. This is a fun series kids will enjoy, while also learning how to read. Please also see posts on level one and level two information.
Snail Trail
Author: Sally Grindley
Illustrator: Mike Phillips
Publisher: Tick Tock Books
ISBN: 978-1-84898-763-0
Pages: 24
Price: $3.99
Level 3-A: The snail leaves a trail of paint, and Gail, the maid is not happy.
Focuses on ai words.
Queen Ella’s Feet
Author: Sally Grindley
Illustrator: Sandra Aguilar
Publisher: Tick Tock Books
ISBN: 978-1-84898764-7
Pages: 24
Price: $3.99
Level 3-B: Queen Ella’s feet are cold. When she asks for a sheet, she ends up with a sheep!
Focuses on ee words.
Puff Flies
Author: Sally Grindley
Illustrator: Valentina Mendicino
Publisher: Tick Tock Books
ISBN: 978-1-84898-765-4
Pages: 24
Price: $3.99
Level 3-C: Puff, the dragon, wants to fly. A magic spell works for a while. Then he learns the secret.
Focuses on ie words.
Goat in a Boat
Author: Sally Grindley
Illustrator: Mike Phillips
Publisher: Tick Tock Books
ISBN: 978-1-84898-766-1
Pages: 24
Price: $3.99
Level 3-D: Goat wants to cross the moat to catch the coach, so he gets into a boat. Toad joins him and makes a mess.
Focuses on oa words.
The Pop Duet
Author: Deborah Chancellor
Illustrator: Alex Paterson
Publisher: Tick Tock Books
ISBN: 978-1-84898-767-8
Pages: 24
Price: $3.99
Level 3-E: Jess asks Zack to join her in a pop duet at a big venue. The bus breaks down and they sing to the passengers.
Focuses on ue words.
Bart’s Go-Cart
Author: Deborah Chancellor
Illustrator: Garyfalia Leftheri
Publisher: Tick Tock Books
ISBN: 978-1-84898-768-5
Pages: 24
Price: $3.99
Level 3-F: Mark likes Bart’s new go-cart. He takes it for a spin and drives until dark, only stopping when he crashes.
Focuses on ar words.
Ernie and Hermie Visit Earth
Author: Lucy George
Illustrator: Claudia Venturini
Publisher: Tick Tock Books
ISBN: 978-1-84898-769-2
Pages: 24
Price: $3.99
Level 3-G: Space creatures Ernie and Hermie spend the day on earth. Hermie gets a perm. Ernie enjoys the opera.
Focuses on the er sound.
Dina the Rapper
Author: Lucy George
Illustrator: Andrew Geeson
Publisher: Tick Tocks Books
ISBN: 978-1-84898-770-8
Pages: 24
Price: $3.99
Level 3-H: Dina works in the diner, but wants to be a rapper. When T-Rex comes in, Dina finally gets her lucky break.
Focuses on the er sound.
Noah and the Search Dogs
Author: Patricia Abrams
Publisher: The Peppertree Press
Genre: Children / Dogs
ISBN: 978-1-61493-031-0
Pages: 20
Price: $12.95
Noah was adopted by the Abrams family on Valentine’s Day. He knew he wanted to be a search dog, so his new family encouraged him to go to school and learn all about his new job. In his training, Noah learned important skills in safety, obedience, and service.
Noah and the Search Dogs doesn’t actually show Noah at work. Instead, it takes the life skills Noah learns in school and encourages kids through his actions. Great pictures of Noah in his training are included.
Reviewer: Alice Berger
Footprints in the Sand
Author: Mary Jane Clark
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Mystery
ISBN: 978-0-06-213544-5
Pages: 384
Price: $25.99
Author’s website
Buy it at Amazon
Piper Donovan is happy to be joining her beloved cousin in Florida to celebrate her upcoming wedding. But a shadow lingers over the joyous event when one of the bridesmaids mysteriously disappears, and her body later turns up, buried in the sand. After it is revealed that she had been involved in some shady business regarding a large real estate transaction, many suspects emerge.
Piper is naturally curious, and soon immerses herself in the investigation, making some questionable moves along the way. Her propensity to blurt out information regarding the murder, and her desire to post her thoughts on Facebook, make her an easy target for the murderer.
Footprints in the Sand is a fun cozy mystery, with an interesting cast of characters and intriguing motives. But Piper’s extraordinarily dangerous behavior is over the top at the times, and made me question her intelligence. Overall, though, I enjoyed this mystery.
Reviewer: Alice Berger
All Kinds of Festivals
Author: Sheri Safran
Illustrator: Rachel Fuller
Publisher: Insight Editions
Genre: Children
ISBN: 978-1-60887-162-9
Pages: 12
Price: $12.99
Different countries celebrate different holidays. In Mexico, November 2nd is the Day of the Dead. The Japanese Yokaichi Giant Kite Festival is in May. And the Bikaner Camel Festival is held in India in January. In this book, these and many other festivals are explained, using colorful illustrations and pop-up images.
In this multi-cultural world we inhabit, there are so many interesting and unique festivals being celebrated each month. All Kinds of Festivals is a fun introduction for kids to learn about other countries and their special holidays.
Reviewer: Alice Berger
Hickory
Author: Palmer Brown
Publisher: The New York Review Children’s Collection
Genre: Children
ISBN: 978-1-59017-627-6
Pages: 56
Price: $14.95
Author’s website
Buy it at Amazon
Hickory lives with his siblings, Dickory and Dock, in the foot of clock. Living in the farm house is warm and safe, especially once he discovers how to disable mousetraps. But as he grows up, he becomes curious about the outside world, and one day he makes the choice to move to the field.
His family is supportive of his decision to strike out into the world, but once he arrives there, Hickory discovers he’s lonely. A grasshopper named Hope saves him from a cat, and the two become best friends. But, although mice can survive through winter, grasshoppers can’t, and the days soon grow colder.
Hickory is a delightful tale of friendship, in the tradition of Charlotte’s Web. Illustrations are in the old style of colorized pen and ink. The sad ending is a reminder to not take our loved ones for granted, and to enjoy every moment we have with them. I highly recommend this charming book.
Reviewer: Alice Berger
Balloon Trees
Author: Danna Smith
Illustrator: Laurie Allen Klein
Publisher: Sylvan Dell
Genre: Children
ISBN: 978-1-60718-6243
Pages: 32
Price: $9.95
Author’s website
Buy it at Amazon
Do you know where balloons come from? You may be surprised to find out that they come from trees – rubber trees. A spout is used to collect the milky liquid inside the rubber trees. Then it is processed to become the substance we see in balloons, tires, and other products we use every day.
Balloon Trees tells the story of this process in rhyme. Beginning with the harvest up to the end of the assembly line, this book shows how a balloon is created. Colorful illustrations bring this process to life, with a native bird guiding us through the narrative.
In addition to the descriptions of how balloons are made, this book also discusses rubber in general. It describes the plantations and tells us a little bit about the workers who harvest the rubber. Interesting and informative, Balloon Trees is perfect for classroom use and is a fun read.
Reviewer: Alice Berger
Number Cross Puzzles
Author: Rich Rollo
Publisher: Xlibris
Genre: Children / Puzzles
ISBN: 978-1477150542 (student), 978-1-4771-5526-4 (teacher)
Pages: 122
Price: $19.99
Buy it at Amazon
Teacher’s Edition
Pencil puzzles with numbers can be fun as well as challenging. Using the style of a crossword puzzle, you need to decide where to place the selected numbers, so that all are used and all “fit” in the diagram. Numbers can go left to right or top to bottom.
In this classroom puzzle book, Rich Rollo has created a series of challenges in varying levels of difficulty. A teacher’s edition is also available, with answers to the puzzles.
I have to qualify my comments about this book by first stating that I am a math nerd. I enjoyed number puzzles of great difficulty when I was in high school, and would eagerly spend hours or even days working on the same puzzle. Number puzzles can be incredibly fun. However, this book provides a very simple version of these puzzles, geared toward younger children. Adults or older students will not find much challenge in these puzzles that may only take five minutes to solve.
Reviewer: Alice Berger
Good Kings Bad Kings
Author: Susan Nussbaum
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Genre: Adult / Young Adult
ISBN: 978-1-61620-263-7
Pages: 336
Price: $23.95
Yessenia Lopez has been through Juvie and now finds herself at ILLC – Illinois Learning and Life Skills Center. Disabled, orphaned and wheelchair-bound, she is full of anger and hostility. Soon she meets other disabled youth – Cheri, who becomes her friend, and Teddy and Mia – a troubled couple. Joanne – also disabled and the secretary at ILLC, and Jimmie – one of the house parents, also become friends.
But this isn’t just Yessenia’s story. Good Kings Bad Kings is told from all of these perspectives and more, as the corruption at ILLC is revealed. As they get to know each other and learn of the horrors perpetrated at the institute, they recognize that change is needed, and become determined to force it.
Good Kings Bad Kings is a powerful commentary on how society views the disabled, and does little or nothing to care for them. Through these characters’ eyes, their story is told with brutal honesty. For the YA reader, caution may be needed due to language and sexual situations. This is not your casual beach read. Instead, you may find a lingering disturbed feeling and an urge to check up on your institutionalized friends and relatives. 2012 winner of the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.
Reviewer: Alice Berger
Little Raccoon Learns to Share
Author: Mary Packard
Illustrator: Lisa McCue
Publisher: Sterling Children’s Books
Genre: Children
ISBN: 978-1-4027-7230-6
Pages: 24
Price: $7.95
Little Raccoon has some nice things, and she keeps them to herself. When she is out collecting flowers, she makes sure she gets plenty, and she never shares. But one day as she gathers berries, she overhears her friends talking while she hides in the bushes, making sure to keep her basket to herself. They are having a party, and everyone will bring something.
Little Raccoon goes home and tells her mother, who suggests she should bring berry muffins to the party. When Little Raccoon arrives, her friends are thrilled to see her, and happy with the muffins. And they in turn offer her some of their own goodies. Little Raccoon now understands that sometimes it’s nice to share with her friends because it makes them happy, and they will share back.
It would be easy to turn this cute story into something preachy, but author Mary Packard has skillfully avoided this pitfall. Instead she shows kids the benefits of sharing, while the refusal to share only leads to feeling lonely and left out. Lisa McCue’s illustrations are bright and cheerful, and the animals are adorable. This feel-good story will be a hit with kids, while teaching them a valuable lesson.
Reviewer: Alice Berger
Otter Lee Brave
Author: Rena Cherry Brown
Illustrator: Mikaila Maidment
Publisher: Schiffer Books
Genre: Children
ISBN: 978-0-7643-4155-7
Pages: 48
Price: $16.99
Author’s website
Schiffer Books
Buy it at Amazon
Lee’s mother is trapped in a fishing net while he’s still small, and suddenly he’s an orphan. When a rescue boat comes through, they bring him to the aquarium, where he meets other otters. But life in the aquarium is no fun when a bully named Brody steals all the food and attention.
One night an earthquake strikes, and all the otters are dumped in the bay. Lee is the only one who knows how to survive, and he tells them what to do until help arrives. But Brody has other ideas, and soon finds himself in trouble. Now, Lee needs to make some decisions. Does he help Brody? And does he return to the aquarium?
Otter Lee Brave is a cute story focusing on several difficult issues, through the eyes of this young otter. He faces the loss of his mother, the meanness of a bully, and an earthquake, which all challenge him to deal with these problems as best he can. But it’s his bravery that saves them all, and earns him the respect of a female otter that befriends him at the end.
Reviewer: Alice Berger
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