3 out of 4 stars
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Toni The Superhero written by R. D Base and illustrated by Debbie Hefke is geared towards helping young children to read. The book appeals to parents, caretakers and young English readers. The 30 paged book is one in the series of Toni the Superhero books. Sentences in this child- friendly book are short and simple to enable children develop their reading and retention skills.
R. D Base describes Toni as a little boy with superpowers who likes to do ordinary things too. Most of the text in the book centers on what Toni likes to do in his free time. (That is when he is not saving the world). All the sentences are beautifully illustrated with very colorful and practical images. Several pictures are seen of Toni drawing, playing, reading, jumping, swimming, dancing, singing and sleeping.
The author; a mother of three young boys used a simple approach to help children read short sentences. The book definitely fulfilled its purpose with the use of the word ‘like’ or ‘likes’ as the predominant verbs. Unfortunately, I found it awfully repetitive and too straight lined. There are several ways children can learn simple sentences without using only the word ‘like’. The author could have used ‘enjoy’ or ‘enjoys’ at least just once or twice in the text to mix things up a little. The patterns of the sentences were also without rhythm or rhyme. I feel like this is one of the essentials of early childhood reading as it helps children to remember what they read easily. It also helps them to clearly identify the words or sentences when they chance on them in their reading experience.
I really enjoyed the illustrations in this book. The colors were bold and vivid. The scenery created by the pictures were absolutely real and fun. Toni was described as being fun as he is always pictured with a smile on his face. Children can definitely imagine themselves being friends with this character. I also noticed that Toni’s friends were illustrated as from different racial backgrounds. That definitely contributed to making the bouquet of this book’s lovely imagery so vivid. I like the fact that the book teaches good values such as the aforementioned. Other values include saving animals, helping parents and dusting. These are values that could help shape children into becoming sympathetic and empathetic as they grow up. I look forward to reading Toni Saves the Day, Toni loves Vegetables and Toni likes to Read.
I rate Toni The Superhero 3 out of 4 stars because I think the author could have written more rhythmic and less repetitive text. I found no errors in this book. I recommend this book to young or beginner readers, early childhood educators, parents and ardent cartoon viewers like myself.
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Toni the Superhero
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