Lynley Dodd is a native of New Zealand whose books have sold more than five million copies worldwide. Her books include Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack, Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy, Hairy Maclary's Showbusiness, and Slinky Malinki.
K-Gr 2-- Two ``first readers'' that beginning readers may find difficult. A Dragon in a Wagon tells of a little girl's fantasies of her dog as a variety of other creatures, such as a dragon in a wagon or a moose on the loose. For the most part, the slight story skips along in rhyme until readers come to giraffe supposedly rhyming with scarf. The gnu may throw young readers off entirely since it comes first in the rhyme and the word (and animal) are so unfamiliar. Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Caper is filled with unfamiliar words to beginning readers such as snippet and cacophony, not to mention the word caterwaul in the title. The simplistic story is of a dog, Hairy Maclary, who leads all of the other dogs in the neighborhood toward a terrible noise created by a cat caught up in a tree. Again, this is supposed to be a rhyming tale, although the last lines on most pages do not rhyme--they are more like refrains. Several words in both texts are in bold capital letters--not necessarily as new words nor as words of emphasis. There doesn't seem to be any logical reason. Each title is well illustrated with bright watercolor and pen drawings in a cartoon-like and often humorous fashion. They far exceed the quality of the texts. Other series such as the ``Rookie Readers'' (Childrens) are much better choices for beginning readers. --Carol McMichael, Greenfield Public Library, Ind.
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