When Katie Woo’s dog, Goldie dies, Katie’s friends and family help her learn to cope with the loss. Through remembering Goldie’s life and making a scrapbook of happy memories, the characters explore ways to keep Goldie’s memory alive. This book’s gentle approach to teaching about death and loss will appeal to parents and educators, while its sweet and colorful illustrations and playful language will appeal to children. The characters exhibit gender and cultural diversity without being cliches or stereotypes. The death of Goldie, which may be a difficult topic for some young readers, is presented in straightforward language at the beginning of the story, allowing the reader to experience Katie’s process of grieving and accepting the loss of her pet over the course of the book. The story is broken up into chapters, which will aid comprehension by allowing readers to digest fundamental concepts one at a time. The language is simple, but effective for telling the story. Vibrant watercolor illustrations add to the story’s warmth, though they often do little more than rehash the text. Several discussion questions and writing prompts and an interactive scrapbook exercise provide opportunities for continued engagement. This book provides parents with a compassionate but honest way to introduce young children to the experience of losing a loved one. Glossary. Recommended. ( )

Wow, it's amazing how long it can take to read an easy reader, especially when you don't read the foreign language in which it is written.

No worries, google translator to the rescue. This is a very sweet story about loosing a beloved pet. I still love, Katie.

And I think I've picked up a little Spanish. By the end of the book I had dijo (said)down pat. Pronouns started to jump out, too.

Maybe I should start purposely reading some of them in Spanish. It's a little clunky to us the translator, but no impossible:) ( )

My easy reader mixed-review today is all varieties of nonfiction and almost-nonfiction.
Flamingos, a station stop 2 All Aboard Science Reader, contains lots of interesting facts about flamingos and a plethora of photographs. I was a little irritated that they had a pronunciation guide for "carotene" but not "lamellae". The last two pages, encouraging readers to recycle etc. to help flamingos felt a bit tacked on to me. Altogether, a nice nonfiction easy reader for kids interested in birds.

Flamingos by Jean Malone
ISBN: 978-0448452067; Published January 2009 by Grosset and Dunlap; Review copy provided by publisher for Cybils; Purchased for the library

The next easy reader I have here is not exactly nonfiction, but it's not one I'd casually hand out for just any beginning reader. Katie Woo's dog, Goldie, is very old. One day, she dies. Katie goes through a simple process of grief, from crying to remembering all the wonderful things about Goldie. There is a simple glossary, discussion questions, and projects in the back. This is an excellent easy reader to hand out to kids who have lost a pet - or a friend. If you're not worried about the dying dog in the beginning upsetting the reader, kids who like dogs will also enjoy this story as it's full of Goldie's funny antics.

Katie Woo: Goodbye to Goldie by Fran Manushkin, illustrated by Tammie Lyon
ISBN: 978-1404854956; Published August 2009 by Picture Window Books; Review copy provided by publisher for Cybils; Purchased for the library

Okay, I admit this isn't even remotely nonfiction, but I threw it in here anyways. It's a simple list of all the wonderful things to do in winter, especially in snow. There were a couple things I wasn't happy about with this book - I felt that the rhymes, sometimes stretching across two pages, were too long for the reading level. This is a sticker book, with the sticker pages in the middle, so libraries will need to either remove or tape over them. The illustrations focus on one extended family with big smiley faces and simple shapes. This could be a fun purchase for an individual family, especially if your beginning reader has never seen snow or is looking forward to winter, but it's a bit flimsy for a library purchase.

Snow Wonder by Charles Ghigna, illustrated by Julia Woolf
ISBN: 978-0375855863; Published October 2008 by Random House; Borrowed from the library

This easy reader is a retelling of the Nativity story. It's a simple but fairly well-written retelling. However, this story is going to work for some and not for others. The "religious" elements, for lack of a better word, have been tidily smoothed over. Jesus "was born to bring peace to the world." The angel Gabriel asks Mary to be the mother of God's Son - not quite the same as the original announcement! "Joseph was not sure whether he was good enough to be a father to such a special child." Um...that's not how I remember it!
The illustrations are rounded and gentle - but we're still stuck with the traditional Westernized versions. I guess we can be thankful Mary's hair is covered so if she's still showing blonde we can't tell.
Families looking for a simple introduction to the traditional story without any religious or possibly controversial elements might want to read this, but it's basically a watered-down version of the Biblical story.

No room at the inn by Jean Malone, illustrated by Bryan Langdo
ISBN: 978-0448452173; Published October 2009 by Grosset and Dunlap; Review copy provided by the publisher

Verdict: I recommend Katie Woo - an excellent story dealing with the death of a pet. Flamingos is a good purchase if you have lots of fans of birds or need more nonfiction in your easy reader section. Snow Wonder, because of the stickers, isn't something I'd add to my library but if you're a parent or giving a gift, consider it. I don't honestly think we need any more Westernized versions of the Nativity story; I don't recommend No Room at the Inn.