Ted in a Red Bed (Easy Words to Read)

Ted buys a new bed and promptly falls sound asleep, so it is up to his friends to get him home again, in a text with movable flaps.

Kindergarten-Grade 1-A pleasing story for the earliest readers. A bear goes into a store and buys a bed, falls asleep, and awakens to find himself home in his new bed presumably by magic. However, the illustrations reveal that a penguin, a cat, and a pig actually move the bed to his house with him in it. Two entertaining flaps are cleverly worked into the story. Each page has only one or two simple sentences, many of which rhyme. The characters are cartoonlike and the bear is a cuddly teddy. Cartwright's use of bright primary colors works well with the story. The front and back covers provide an introduction to phonics and a phonetic listing of the words in the book. Although there are a few points at which the choice of words is a bit overdone ("`I need this bed, Fred!' grins Ted./`It is a nice price,' smiles Fred"), for the most part the language flows fairly well despite the controlled vocabulary. Children will enjoy finding the little yellow duck that is hidden on every page. Librarians in search of beginning readers will find that this helps fill a need.
Amy Lilien-Harper, Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
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