‘If you were my puppy I would call you Scraps,’ says Jack. He imagines all the fun that he and Scraps would have together.
Jack is feeling a bit grumpy. His best friend Billie is away, and he has no one to play with. So when he and Dad find a lost puppy, Jack is excited. They take the puppy home until they can find its owner. But Jack wishes that he could keep the puppy for himself.
The New Friend is part of a fun early reader series from award wining author Sally Rippin and publisher Hardie Grant Egmont. Jack is a regular kid who reacts the way many children would when finding a puppy – he wants to keep it. Told in simple language and large font, to be accessible to new readers, the story is supported by grayscale illustrations on most spreads.
In The Worry Monster Jack is back with a new problem – worry monsters. With a spelling test looming, Jack can’t chase the worry away. He is a bad speller and is sure he is going to fail. he doesn’t want to practise for the test, because that will only remind him of how bad he is at spelling. But then he leaves the study too late and his worry only increases.
Both books stand alone, though readers will enjoy following Jack’s adventures in both these and other titles in the series. The bright covers will appeal, as will the fact that they are about situations to which young readers will relate.
Good stuff.
Both titles by Sally Rippin
Hardie Grant Egmont, 2012