Jeremiah Learns to Read - Hardcover

Bogart, Jo Ellen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0590249274 ISBN 13: 9780590249270

Publisher: North Winds Press, 1997

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 1-3-Three short stories about exuberant, irrepressible George. Every school has children and situations similar to those described here, so readers will relate to each episode. In the first, a classroom rabbit escapes from its cage and runs wild until George comes to the rescue. The second chapter is about making bread on project day. The third describes the difficulty he has about deciding how to spend his limited funds at the school fair. When he tries to figure the angles for winning the raffle for two box seats at a baseball game and doesn't succeed, he looks on the bright side, hoping to do better next year. George's character traits are unusually well developed in spite of the spare vocabulary. His positive spirit and good sportsmanship shine through even when things don't go his way. Young readers will be drawn into the familiar activities and will be encouraged to follow George's example in their own group activities. Simple, colorful cartoons add to the humor. The stories will satisfy the desire of early readers to reach the "chapter book" status. A good choice for independent reading or as a read-aloud.
Betty Teague, Blythe Academy of Languages, Greenville, SC
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Jeremiah, a vital, elderly farmer, is featured in this idealized book about illiteracy. Jeremiah knows how to build a split-rail fence and make buttermilk pancakes, but he doesn't know how to read. A teacher in a one-room schoolhouse and her students help him, and in gratitude Jeremiah teaches the children "how to chirp like a chickadee and honk like a goose." In some ways, the strengths of the book are also its weaknesses. The lyrical text is beautifully written, but its economy sometimes leads to confusion. For instance, it's initially unclear why Jeremiah's wife and brother don't teach him how to read (they are also illiterate). The spacious, realistically rendered oil paintings emphasize the heroism of the protagonist. But the choice of an earlier era for the setting incorrectly suggests that illiteracy is a problem of the past (the publisher's note, however, does state that this is not the case). Most important, perhaps, neither the art nor the text shows the struggle involved in learning to read. Despite its shortcomings, this upbeat presentation has myriad uses for ESL and adult-literacy classes as well as elementary-grade discussion groups. Julie Corsaro

About this edition

• Publisher: North Winds Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0590249274
• ISBN 13: 9780590249270
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Fernandez Laura, Jacobson Rick