WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1977, PAGE 9 BOOK RE VIEW By John Roberts Wallace Tripp, A GREAT BIG UGLY MAN CAME UP AND TIED HIS HORSE TO ME (Little, Brown, $6.95) The autunin appears to offer an excellent selection of children's and iuvenile books for the Christmas buying season, and Tripp's book of nonsense verse should be a good book for the preschool and Grades 1-5 reader. There are two things to look for in any children's book, those being reading level and relevance. Reading level is a simple factor to determine. If a child complotes, say, Grade 1, he or she should be able to read at that level. f Your bookseller should be able to tell the buyer at what level a particular book is written. If a book is not a gift, it. is always a good idea to bring the child along when making a prchseand ask him or her to read a few pages aloud before purchasiflg the book to make sure that it can be rad with ease. t is quite frustrating for'a child, and ideed a step backward, to have to stop and ask what a word menS. Eventually the child will skip over words not understood, thereby losing much of the sense of the story as well as negating the value of the book. You must also understand why you purchase a particular title. If a book is bought to read to a child, you are after mere entertainrnent value, and the child profits only when you have time to read to him. This is valid when the j child cannot read, but is of little value when a child is developing reading skills. Try to find books that are relevant to the child, something he or she would enjoy raigto himself rather than something you find interest- ing or think that he or she finds interesting. In the long run, tebs e ih be to let the child pick his or her onbook, wti esna opie Furter o te tpicof relevance, 1 believe that a book thould teach a child something as well as entertaining. AGREAT BIG UGLY MAN is a book that can do just that. In the first place, it's a fun book. t introduces poetry as well as reading skills, but being a book of nonsense verse, it offers something to think about: "I eat my peas with honey l've done it all my life, They do taste kind of funny, But it keeps themn on the kuife". This verse, the second in the book, has enormous possibilities. lt's a common verse, something that Most of us- have heard as children, but it's also amusing, easy to learn and be repeated. It is ilso illustrated with a full page drawing of a mole, a cat and a groundhog sitting at a tree stump for a table having dinner. So the verse is accompanied wîth visual impact. offering the child both BIG NIC "WednesdajSPeCia"4 If youM Ce *nToul -LoveOur GoId.n-SrOwf, Cvlspy Prosure 3 Oe fO CkiDinnr $2 10 Froudi Mas,Colw & Sun MIh-WuterIng le 1h OnUy woy to dlsrb.rSuccuht Spore Rin *Also Spectil Breakfast Menu f rom 6a.ITI.Io il a.m. DaiIy BIG NI1ýC 108Bro ck St. Se# WHITBYIONTARIO picture and writing. it is also a lesson in table manne rs. Consider also the followinig: An epicure dining at Crewe, Fouind quite a large mouise iii his stew. Said the waiter, "Don't shouit, And wave it about, Or the rest will be wanting one, too!" This poern is a different kettie of fish. From the first line, it is obviouis that the book is.British, iLe. the reference to Crewe. As welI, not many children wouild know what an epicuire might be. This uine alone might deterinine the relevance and reading level of the entire book. t is, though, a funny, cliche type verse, and it rnight be worth explainîng what the first line means if the child couldn't detect the meaning from the accornpanying illustration. The book "Tickles". Yotu begin to feel this on the very first page of the book, and you read on to meet a crazy grey horse who thought he was a fly, an old man eating his shoe, and a millzman (looking very rnuch like a tiger) with an icicle on his nose. The poems are clever, and in a hardcover format with full colour illustrations, deserving of the price. This and other fine children's books are available at Plumn Hollow Books, 135 Brock St. South, Whitby. THE C CRF WORKS-HOP HAS RELOCATED AT 1626 CHARLES ST. 668-9511 CLASSES GREENVV/ARE GLAZES POTTERY SUPPLIES ETC. COME AN D SEE OUR NEW STUDIO