The Pup Speaks Up (Step into Reading, Step 1) - Softcover

Anna Jane Hays has had firsthand experience with seven preschoolers–her own two children and five grandchildren–as well as over 30 years experience in creating educational picture books, storybooks, and print activity books for preschoolers. She joined the Children’s Television Workshop in 1970 and used her creativity and expertise to help develop publishing based on Sesame Street, the then-new, innovative, PBS preschool educational television series. She was first managing editor of the Sesame Street magazine start-up and developed original Sesame Street Book publishing in partnerships with Golden Press and Random House. After 29 years at Sesame Street, she retired as Vice President/Editor in Chief of Book Publishing at Children's Television Workshop. Hays continues her work in children’s publishing and has since published several storybooks and picture books with Random House, including "Silly Sara," "The Pup Speaks Up," and several other Step Into Reading and Sesame Workshop titles. Hays received her AA at Stephens College, Columbia, MO, and her BA in Honors English at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. She then pursued a variety of post-graduate academic studies, including writers workshops at New York University and Columbia University.The author of numerous books for both US and European publishers, Hays continues her work in children's publishing as an editor, writer, and consultant. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Valeria Petrone has illustrated numerous picture books, including Red Truck, Blue Boat, and Yellow Copter (all by Kersten Hamilton), and Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin (by Mary Serfozo), and does editorial illustration for several Italian and UK magazines. She lives in Milan, Italy.

Reviewed with Kathryn Heling and Deborah Hembrook's Mouse's Hide-and-Seek Words.

PreS-K. These effective new books from the Step into Reading series are labeled "phonics--ready to read." In Pup, this means using rhyme and repetition; in Hide-and-Seek Words, it means finding small words in big ones. A small, black-and-white dog greets his new owner, but unlike the other animals, who quack, honk, and oink with impunity, Pal says nothing. When a cat meows at him, Pal finally speaks his piece: "Bow wow wow." Prereaders can use their skills to match the animals with their sounds. The book extends the concept by introducing sounds made by inanimate objects such as trains and tugs. The colorful pages feature sprightly, simply shaped characters and animals. Hide-and Seek Words stretches readers a bit more with its word-within-a-word concept. In one picture, for instance, the busy mouse rides a train; in the next picture it starts to rain. The word rain is highlighted in red within the word train. Plate/late, trip/rip, string/ring are just a few of the combinations, all of which work very well with the peppy art. Ilene Cooper
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