Horrible Haircut

Mom promises that if she cuts Lucy's hair too short then Lucy can cut her hair in return. Lucy's little brother Johnny decides that scruff the dog needs a haircut too and that's when things get really hairy!

Grade 1-2-Three books for fluent beginning readers. Mummies is an implausible story about Mommy, Daddy, Tut, and Sis Mummy, who live in a pyramid "in the Land of Sand." Archaeologist Sir Digby Digger is shocked to discover the Mummies, but they give him dinner and lots of artifacts, and help him obtain a used camel when his car won't start, and he helps them relieve the distress of a whale that is trapped in the river. Children will need the help of patient adults and Chatterton's cartoons to make sense of the twisted plot and mixed historical references. In Shoot, Mayfield describes the soccer game between Jamie Crocker and his team and Ricky's Rockets. Jamie's teammates are introduced via poems that have some choppy lines and rhymes, but a smoother narrative is achieved once the game begins, and soccer fans will revel in the drama, descriptions, and clever ending. Cox's bold cartoons of the action provide wonderful contextual clues, foreshadowing, and additional laughs. In Haircut, Lucy agrees to let mom cut her long, tangled hair with the condition that she can cut her mother's hair if she is not pleased with the result. Obviously, mom gets a haircut. Humor, hair gel, and spiky hairdos save the day. Newsham's colorful illustrations give the characters life with movement, emotion, and supportive contextual clues. Pass on the first reader; consider the other two additional.
Laura Scott, Baldwin Public Library, Birmingham, MI
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