Oh that rascally Max always spoiling Ruby's best laid plans! In this cute take off of Rosemary Wells' adorable brother and sister team, big sister Ruby tries to get her little brother Max to play school with her. While teaching him his colors, ABCs, and how to count, you will find opportunities to teach your toddler or preschooler. My daughters love the cartoon thus finds the beginning reader relatable. ( )

Max and Ruby pretend that they are at school and go through the daily schedule that would happen at actual school
1 book

Ruby wants to play school with her brother Max, but all Max wants to do is play with his race car. Will the siblings be able to come to a happy compromise?

This easy reader uses rebus pictures to help emergent readers finish the story on their own. I don't mind the use of pictures to help children gain clues about the words (indeed, it's incredibly helpful), but I'm not sure why the book couldn't include both the word and the picture side by side. Beginning readers might find it somewhat easier to read this way, but as an experienced reader, I found it very disconcerting. Also, the choice of pictures seemed a bit odd - "car" is a picture while words like "write" and "grabbed" are only textual. In terms of long-time literacy gains, I'm not sure that the picture reader approach really helps that much.

The story might be one children readily identify with, but it's pretty thin on plot. The illustrations are just so-so, although I suppose they'll resonate with Max and Ruby fans. All in all, I was disappointed with this book. ( )