I Want to Be... series by Laura Driscoll

Liesel Schmidt is a children's librarian at Denver Public Library's Central Library. She enjoys exploring the wonders of the world alongside kids of all kinds.

These three books in the My Community subset of the I Can Read! Series blend narrative with nonfiction elements to explore the careers of a variety of community helpers. Each book begins with a different child expressing curiosity about the job of a person in their community. Then, each book goes on to explore a variety of different job titles within each profession. For instance, after encountering an emergency room doctor in I Want to Be a Doctor, the young narrator learns about specific types of doctors who perform X-rays, fix bones, help newborn babies and more.

I Want to Be a Doctor, I Want to Be a Police Officer, and I Want to Be a Veterinarian are all well-made contributions to the community helpers category. All titles feature an appealing cast of diverse primary and secondary characters, including gender, race and ability diversity. A clear, consistent typeface is used, with generous leading providing space between the lines so that new readers can focus easily. Vocabulary is straightforward and made up predominantly of high frequency words. Glossaries at the back of each volume give more specific definitions of each job (A police detective "tries to find all the facts about a crime," etc.). Still, these books may excel in their category, but how do they stack up against other Geisel contenders?

Driscoll's I Want to Be books combine fiction and nonfiction to introduce new information about professions in the community. When introducing new information, excellent books for beginning readers provide supports for learners through text and illustration--and it is in this area that these books are lacking. Although sentences are short and concepts simple, more difficult vocabulary is included, sometimes without significant support. The word "veterinarian" is introduced on the first page of I Want to Be A Veterinarian, after which the word "vet" is used in its place without explanation until page 20, when "veterinarian" is used again. In I Want to Be a Doctor, the word "emergency" is used once in the context of an emergency room, but then is not repeated or defined. These three books also utilize turns of phrase and abbreviations that may be difficult for a new reader. In I Want to Be a Police Officer, Driscoll mentions ID cards, without defining the term or explaining what ID means. In that same book, Driscoll refers to a K-9 unit without explanation.

Although Driscoll's I Want to Be books stand out from their counterparts in their engaging diversity and appealing narrators, they are missing some beginning reader supports that would make them first picks for the Geisel award. Still, look to these books for cheerful introductions to community helpers.

Note: Librarians at Oakland Public Library produced a guide to Evaluating Children's Books about Police. The ideas presented in that guide may provide a useful rubric for examining I Want to Be a Police Officer.