Review (Book) - Camille's Team by Stuart Murphy

"Camille loves to build sand forts at the beach. But it's hard to build a big fort alone. See what happens when Camille and her friends make a plan, work together, and share the fun." (inside jacket flap)


I read this book last night and still can't come to a verdict of how I feel about the book as a whole, so I'll break it into three parts.


The illustrations are definitely the best part of this book. From the map of the town on the front endpapers (apparently that's the "official" term for the inside front cover of a book) to the end of the book, the characters are just so cute. If they don't already, they look like they should have their own TV show. 


The text of the book (while in a kid-friendly but still readable font, and arranged in fun ways to wrap around the illustrations) is slightly boring. It also drove me up a wall that there were no commas after the transition words (unless one of the character's names really is "Soon Carlos"), but children aren't going to notice that.


Another one of my favorite parts of this book though (Do I put a comma here? Before the word "though"? Both??? See what this book has done to me?!) was how the author focused on the word "cooperate" and then used several pages to make sure the reader comprehended the definition of the word, while still telling the story. At the end of the book there is a section for "A Closer Look", which is a selection of suggested reading comprehension questions. 


I can't picture using this book for storytime, but I think it would be great to use in a tutor-situation - one-on-one with a young child to work on their reading comprehension. 


Amazon recommends this book for ages 3 and up.


My rating: