I received this as an ARC from Netgalley. My opinions are my own. As a teacher I found the book very helpful for emerging readers. The pictures are very colorful and will keep the intent of young ones. The sentences are perfect for helping the early learners. The only downside is early readers often need more excitement in what is happening on the page and they may get bored. I would recommend this more for ELL learners simply be a of that. Overall, i can see having this in the classroom as a useful tool.

One of the things that always gets me about Early Readers books is that a great many of them expect kids to have a fair grasp of multi-syllable and sight words. This isn't exactly <em>wrong</em>, but it implies a level of reading skill that not all young readers have. And perhaps I am mildly biased in this as I work with children who have reading struggles, but it's always <em>bugged</em> me.

Bakery is a three-syllable word and unless an early reader has been introduced to it a lot, they will <em>not</em> be able to read it. Also bread and fruit do not follow the rules.

<b>Cam's Walk</b>

In general, <em>Cam's Walk</em> by Margo Gates and illustrated by Sarah Jennings was alright. There was nothing to really feel blown away by, though. The story is simple and follows a boy and his father as they go on a walk through their neighborhood. They pass by a bakery and a library and even a park.

It's a cute story that's only mildly engaging. Colors are bright and illustrations are decent. Nothing about it really stands out to you though. And, as I mentioned above, I have a huge problem with the language used in it. Sure, this works for some kids but it definitely won't work for all of them. Add in the fact that the story is kind of boring and I don't know how many children are going to be eager to read this one.

<b>Suburban Places</b>

Okay, so Katie Peters' <em>Suburban Places</em> is a little bit better. I think it does well educating on the subject at hand. But it's rather boring. While it doesn't fall into as many language issues, there are still a few that I found bothersome. I think I'd pick up this book before I were to pick up <em>Cam's Walk</em>.

I don't know how much I could say that teaching about suburbs is a <em>great </em>endeavor, though. There are so many more important topics than what features a suburb has. And, frankly, I have my own thoughts there that left me feeling uncomfortable.

<b>Last Thoughts</b>

In general, I'm not much of a fan of these two books. They're not <em>bad</em>, but they definitely aren't great either.

<em>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</em>