Silent Letters Loud and Clear
By Robin Pulver, illustrated by Lynn Rowe Reed
Holiday House, $16.95
32 pp., ISBN-13: 978-0823421275

Review by Amy Brozio-Andrews

In this grammar book for young emerging readers and spellers, Robin Pulver -- already known for her previous grammar books (Punctuation Takes A Vacation, Nouns and Verbs Have A Field Day) -- turns her eye to the challenge of those pesky silent letters, the ones that persistently trip up new readers and spellers.

When the book opens, Mr. Wright has just finished teaching his students the lesson on silent letters, like those in knee, knuckle, wriggle, and wrinkle. When he asks the kids to show their appreciation for those letters who work hard and keep quiet, the students rebel. They fire off a letter to the editor lamenting the fact that they even have to use these silent letters because they make spelling correctly so hard. The silent letters are, of course, offended and walk out of the email message, forcing the kids to learn the hard way how much those silent letters can say.

Robin Pulver's tone is informative and energetic. The story is fast-moving and provides a gentle lesson as well as entertainment. Every word that has silent letters in it has those letters merely outlined in the text, to draw attention to them and to make an example of them in the reading. This makes it really easy for parents to point them out and talk about them with emerging readers. It also makes it easier for kids who want to read the book themselves practice with the silent letters.

Lynn Rowe Reed's bright and colorful artwork is busy and reflects the high-energy of the storytelling. She used acrylic paint on canvas and a playful eye to give silent letters loud personalities. With expressive faces and colorful, detailed wardrobes, these letters are anything but quiet, making the artwork as engaging as the writing.

Silent Letters Loud and Clear is a lively and breezy look at learning to spell and learning to make mistakes and move on.

Review by Charity R. Bartley Howard

Parents, caregivers and anyone with children in their lives have been told reading to children is important. Reading to a child from birth, even for just 15 minutes a day, helps develop an interest in reading. This little amount of time starts a child toward a life of reading, writing and communication everyday.

There are varieties of story types with many helping parents teach lessons or approach concerns in a fun way. Elizabeth Crary and Shari Steelsmith, along with illustrations by Mits Katayama, created a series for toddlers to help them understand their feelings, Feelings for Little Children. There are four books in the series about when they are happy, mad, shy and silly. Often children’s books, especially books for infants and toddlers, have rhymes and repetition. That is true for the Feeling for Little Children books. This series is published by Parenting Press and the publisher’s site explains this series, "Their frustrations at their inability to say how they feel can be eased with these delightful rhymes that teach words and actions, sung to the tune of ‘If You’re Happy and You Know it, Clap Your Hands’.” These books can be read, but singing them to the tune sounds best and is more fun for everyone – parent and child.

Reading to children from birth can give parents the habit of reading to their children. It also helps set an example for the baby to hear the rhythm of books while starting them on the path to language. These books are primarily designed for children 1 – 3 to help them express and understand their feelings.

When You’re Silly and You Know It is one of the board books in the series. Children learn that “When you’re silly and you know it, then your laugh will surely show it.” It not only shows that a child can have fun being silly but it’s fun such as when they make funny faces.

The 10-page books also includes, When You’re Shy and You Know It. Many children may feel shy or uncomfortable about around others. This story gives children an idea of how to deal with their shyness. Such as, “When you are shy and you know it, start out slow.”

Reading is Fundamental at http://www.rif.org/parents/resources/parentguide.mspx gives ideas on how to introduce books to children and provide reading techniques to help when reading to children.