A collection of 5 short stories in which a big vocabulary word is introduced. Pronunciation is given and kids have the opportunity to use context clues to figure out the meaning. The definition is given at the end of the story. The last story combines all 5 words into one story, or their word play. Stories are made up of dialogue between the boy, Chris, and his cat, Crat. I think this would be a great book (and appears to be a series) for 1st and 2nd graders and could have instructional use for upper grades as well.

I absolutely can not wait to use BIG WORDS SMALL DONUTS STORIES: THE MISSING DONUT with my students. This book is such a fun way to teach vocabulary to young children.

This is such a great book to teach context clues with! It’s also at the perfect level for students who enjoy graphic novels but might not have the stamina for something too long. I also really enjoyed the illustrations! Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

What a cute combination of geography, safety and "big words" all combined in a story format. Great pictures and captions. Each story concludes with a definition of another "big word". The conclusion, using all of the big words, is sweet! Kudos ! Love this book!

Many thanks to Kids Can Press and NetGalley for this treat!

Oh my goodness! What an adorable idea and fantastic way to teach kids about context clues while expanding vocabulary!

Chris and Crat expose kids to “big words” as the “Sprinklers” sprinkle the words from the “Sprinkle Fairy”. I appreciate that the pronunciation is also included, helping kids get a better handle on the word itself. This would be a great book to introduce context clues in the classroom.

I LOVED the concept behind Big Words Small Stories: The Missing Donut. The book contains 5 short stories, each of which teaches a complicated "Big Word" in an easy-to-understand way. It's a cross between a picture book and a comic, and I thought the design was really good -- each story followed a clear pattern and both definitions and pronunciation guides were given for each "Big Word". The book finishes with a summary story that uses all of the newly-learned words to recap the lessons.

Although this book would appeal to many new readers who are looking for an easy way to build their vocabularies, I question the choice of words that were presented. "Bamboozled" and "smithereens" are not as helpful words to know as, say, "conscientious" or "indignantly".

While I have some misgivings about the words chosen to be highlighted, this could be the start of a great little series. If more books are to come, I hope that the author would consider mixing some more utilitarian words in with the silly. Overall 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for providing me with a free electronic ARC of this book.

I loved this book! It was so fun to read - the short stories would be the perfect length for kids - and the creative ways the text was laid out on the pages along with the illustrations is something young readers would really enjoy! The illustrations perfectly paired with the text to tell the stories! Crat reminded me of a modern day Garfield, being mischievous and getting into trouble! A fun read!

Review to be posted in August on all places mentioned in my profile.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

So I have to say I thought this one would be a picture book. The cover, the title, it sounded to me like this would be a hilarious picture book about a boy and his missing donut. But instead it is much more!

Actually this book contains several short stories, 5 to be exact, and then a 6th one that combines all the words that we learned in this book. Yep, that is right, this book has fun stories, but also a word. And not just a word, but big words. Like purloined or bamboozled. These words are woven in the story (though we do get a warning that a BIG WORD is coming up), we get an explanation on how to pronounce them, and then at the end of the story we see the meaning of said word (though kids can also just gander the meaning from reading the story). I really loved that the author went for such big words and then to learn them to kids in such a fun way.

The stories always include someone doing something wrong, like the cat flying through the sky when he wants to impress people on his bike, or the cat breaking something. What happens to those who done wrong? Well, that is why we have a sprinkle fairy for. And it is a sprinkle fairy with a love for hotdogs it seems. :P

The stories are short, and are also told through the illustrations. The illustrations are a bit simple, but I did like the style.

All in all, I had tons of fun reading this, and I am sure kids will love it. They get fun, hilarious stories, and they also learn something.

This book pleasantly tries to get words like "discombobulated", "purloined" and "galoshes" into your child's vocab, but is that exactly your priority? No, thought not. Still, the way the words are shown in context, one at a time and then in one 'drama' at the end as revision is the right way to go about it. The short stories for each word vary in quality, the presentation is fine – it's just the reasoning behind it I have to doubt.