Lionel in the Spring (Dial Easy-to-Read)

Lionel's spring activities include plans to plant a vegetable garden, helping celebrate his parent's anniversary, playing with his friend, and participating in spring cleaning.

Kindergarten-Grade 2-- The hero of Lionel at Large (1986) and Lionel in the Fall (1987, both Dial) is back in this latest easy-to-read title. In four short chapters, Lionel prepares to plant a garden and succeeds in planting only one pumpkin seed, cooperates with his sister to make their parents a surprise anniversary breakfast, concocts a super-strength potion for a friend to drink, and is cajoled into parting with some prized possessions during the family's spring housecleaning. The stories are neither inspiring nor dull--they are just there. Some children will identify with the sibling bickering, and a few more may feel inspired to make their own magic potions, but basically there is little that is particularly humorous and not much that will hold readers' interest. The text has a varied sentence structure, uses a lot of dialogue, and will be readable by most early primary readers. Natti's sprightly and springy illustrations bring color and visual interest to the text, especially the series of drawings that show Lionel working in the garden. This is not the cream of the crop of early readers, but it's certainly worthy of inclusion in collections that need more in this genre. --Sharron McElmeel, Cedar Rapids Community Schools, IA
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