Walter and the Tugboat written by Eugene Bradley Coco and Illustrated by Edward Heck

            I found the book incredibly simplistic and basic. The book was designed for preschoolers as it says on its cover but I found the sentence structure almost too simplistic. I did not find the illustrations very detailed or informative.

            The illustrations did not add to the text nor did they distract. They did show the emotions of the characters through eyes and used different color themes. I felt that the simplicity of the illustrations however distracted from the actual text. Sense the preschoolers cannot even read the illustrations should be able to tell the story without the words. The illustrations do that to an extent but some of the text is needed for meaning.

The text can be condescending. A very, very little child may not think so but according to chapter 3 from our reading in class if I feel that the tone is condescending so might they. This does not make reading enjoyable but a chore that must be done.

I might use this book if a child really struggled with reading, but I do not recommend it. I don’t think I would have it in my classroom.

Published:1988