Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Charlie Anderson by: Barbara Abercrombie and illustrated by: Mark Graham
















Ages: 4-9

One night, a grey, striped cat walked out of the woods and into the house where sisters Elizabeth and Sarah lived with their mother. The two girls adopt the cat, and name him Charlie. Charlie is only at their house at night, and during the day he goes into the woods. One night, the cat does not come to their house. The girls are very worried about Charlie. The next morning they go searching for their cat, and ask their neighbors if they have seen him. The girls discover a secret about Charlie at one of their neighbor’s houses – something they have in common with Charlie. Find out this surprise in Charlie Anderson.

Charlie Anderson is a great children’s picture book. The text is fairly simple with much detail. The illustrations in this book are beautiful. They are soft-toned and very realistic. They capture the details of the young girls and the cat. Several children will be able to relate to the topic of divorce present in the book. This is a wonderful book to discuss the topic of family units, specifically divorce or separation. Children will be able to find reassurance through this book that they are still loved even though they have two homes. This book shows the positive side of divorce, and shows there can be happiness. Children will also enjoy this book if they are cat lovers. This book gives the reader a sense of what it is like to love and be responsible for a pet. I also think this book is a great way to introduce the prediction strategy to children. Children will be able to predict what happened to Charlie. Readers are sure to love and be surprised by the ending! I would recommend Charlie Anderson to any reader looking for a good book with a surprise ending!

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