Today's
guest contributor, Anna Taylor, is the Assistant Head of Children’s
Services and Collection Development Coordinator for Darien Library in
CT. She's a co-convener of ALSC's Children's Collection Management Discussion Group and serves on YALSA’s Quick Picks for Reluctant
Young Adult Readers. Find her on Instagram @librarianna
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| Images provided by Anna Taylor |
The first book in a new series, Peter & Ernesto join the early reader/graphic novel bandwagon incorporating repeating words, bold text, and simple plots in a graphic novel format.
In this first installment, the reader is introduced to Peter and Ernesto, two sloths who are content sitting in their tree and seeing cloud shapes in in the sky. When Ernesto is convinced he must see all of the sky instead of just their small piece while in the tree, he leaves Peter to go on an adventure thus beginning the plot of the story.
This book is told entirely via speech bubbles from the characters. The speech bubbles have a bold black line outlining the white bubble making it easy to find for young readers. The speech bubbles will change their shape based on certain actions. For example, when Ernesto is walking across a wobbly bridge and steps off, he still feels “wobbly” and the speech bubble is a curvy circle to show what the word “wobbly” means and feels like.
The characters Peter and Ernesto have an Elephant and Piggie feel that kids will recognize as they go back in forth in simple dialogue and friendship ends up being the central focus of the story. One thing that makes Peter and Ernesto stand out from the Willems crew is the format and trim size of the physical book. The book is told via comic panels throughout, has a larger trim size, and a page count of 128 pages.
Peter and Ernesto is a great introduction to graphic novels for young readers and those who are already comfortable with beginning reader books. While the plot is simple, the long page count and use of large words such as “Hibiscus” and “admirable” increase the level of the book. However, readers straddling the line of Toon Books and Dog Man will be thrilled to read about two sloths named Peter and Ernesto. I believe that Peter & Ernesto: A Tale of Two Sloths is a strong contender for the Geisel Award and is anything else, a new favorite series for young readers.
Wouldn't the 128 page count make it ineligible? I think the criteria says that the book has to be 96 pages or less. This book has been very popular with first and second graders I know, so it definitely falls within the spirit of the award. Along with Baby Monkey, Private Eye (a fantastic early reader that is waaaay over the 96 page limit) I wonder if the increasing number of books whose page count is high due to a plethora of images rather than an overabundance of words might mean the committee needs to take another look at the criteria. I wonder if word count might be a more accurate indicator of intended audience than page count.
ReplyDeleteAlys, you are correct. The page number makes this title ineligible. Which is a shame indeed, because as you note it’s been so popular with kids! Word count is an intriguing idea!
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