Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #727443 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 16 pages

From Amazon.com
Kids who love Clifford the Big Red Dog will enjoy this set of one dozen story books that reinforces phonetics, the "fundamental skill of knowing that the sounds we say represent the letters we read." Each simple booklet depicts Clifford in various adventures, from baking a cake for his friend Emily Elizabeth to rescuing a hive of bees to sharing a rainy day with a book and a friend. Emily Elizabeth introduces each story with an explanation of the sounds featured in that story: the final "e"; words that begin with "br," "gr," "tr," and "dr"; the long "a," etc. She encourages readers to pay attention to those sounds in that story and in the "many, many other stories" in which they appear. A letter included with the books describes ways of helping children learn to enjoy reading, and the whole collection is tucked into a handy cardboard carrying case with Velcro closure and plastic handle. (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

About the Author
There’s no denying that kids love Clifford®. The Big Red Dog® has been a favorite since Norman Bridwell created him over 40 years ago. "I was working as a commercial artist in New York City. There wasn’t much work, so I made some sample pictures and took them to several publishers. They all rejected my work. But one editor suggested that I try writing a book of my own to illustrate. I had done a painting of a little girl with a big red dog. That seemed like a funny idea, so I made up a story about them. I increased the dog’s size from as big as a horse to as big as a house. My wife named the dog Clifford, and we named the little girl Emily Elizabeth after our daughter. In three days I had written the story and drawn the pictures for Clifford The Big Red Dog. When Scholastic called and said they wanted the book, I was stunned." Bridwell, who grew up in Kokomo, Indiana, lives now on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, with his wife, Norma. For more information about Norman Bridwell, visit: scholastic.com/tradebooks

Customer Reviews

Kindergarten help
My son is in Kindergarten and loves these books! We read 4 each night. He complains that they are too short (hense why we read 4). We went to his parent/teacher conference today. His teacher said he is reading at first grade level. She has these books in her class and loves them! Highly recommended for phonics reading and Clifford fans!

Shoddily Done, but Entertaining
Though my son likes these books a lot, and reading ANYTHING is helpful for him, I wish someone had proofread them! Several of the books switch tenses over and over, and one book that claims to focus on the "-ed" ending does not in fact CONTAIN words with the -ed ending -- someone in the editing process obviously switched everything to the present tense, thereby editing out that which they meant to teach!

Lots of other continuity errors and extremely awkward phrasing. You'd think they'd be extra careful with educational books, but these were obviously slapped together by office temps.

Excellent
I have a ...child who is learning to read English and Spanish. I bought and tried several phonics series (some expensive), and he never got interested in them. But he loves these series (both I and II). He finds the books very amusing, laughs at the stories (very cute!), and like to read them all every time. The phonics structure seems appropriate, yet not as systematic as the other series that he never liked reading. Since my main interest is to keep his passion for reading and expose him at his own rithm to phonetic reading, these two series are just perfect.