Easy Reading: Amanda Pig and the Wiggly Tooth

A straightforward story about a familiar childhood situation, Amanda Pig and the Wiggly Tooth is the latest in a series of beginning readers written by Jean Van Leeuwen and illustrated by Ann Schweninger. Amanda is a very human-like oinker; she jumps rope, wears pink and purple clothes, and plays with stuffed animals.

Amanda's tooth would not fall out.

She wiggled it

up and down and sideways.

She jiggled it.

She twirled it around in a circle.

But it did not fall out.

While I didn't find the happenings particularly suspenseful, perhaps five and six year olds will.  (Unlike Mercy Watson, the pigs here don't embrace their inner—or outer—boar.) Dial, the publisher, lists the book as a Level 2, for "reading together," with "short sentences" and "simple dialogue." Add brief chapters, pictures on each page, and plenty of white space between the lines, and you've got a pleasant and age-appropriate easy reader.

Amanda Pig and the Wiggly Tooth is a nominee for Cybils award in the Easy Reader category.

Comments

[Vivian]

My five-year-old LOVES the "Amanda Piggy" books. I'll have to find a copy of this one.

[Susan_Thomsen]

Vivian, the book is well-geared to the age and irony-free.