QUALITY STORYTENTS
A resource for family, early childhood and community literacy workers
Books that help new readers are “…one and two line caption books that contain stories about subjects familiar to most children; strong pictorial support provided by illustration that match text exactly; and predictable language patterns” (Depree & Inverson, 1994, p. 24). Examples of books with matching text and illustrations would be Big and Little by Samantha Berger and Blue Hat Green Hat by Sandra Boynton. An example of a predictable pattern book is Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin Jr. There are many other texts useful in supporting emergent literacy, including wordless books, like the Carl series by Alexandria Day (Carl Goes to Daycare; Carl's Birthday, etc.), or high interest/low level books like Machines at Work by Byron Barton or The Big Goof by Grass Roots Press.
Crowd pleasers are books that obviously hold the attention and interest of groups of children of different ages. In our tent, Mortimer and Stephanie’s Ponytail by Robert Munsch (and most other Munsch titles), and chanting and singing books, like Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, Miss Mary Mack, and Lady with the Alligator Purse, work well. Children will often request that a crowd pleaser be read again (right away, later, or consistently). They often sing or read along and visibly enjoy the book.