Recently we were given the opportunity to review a book – S is for Smiling Sunrise from WordsBright. This hardcover children’s books is 30 pages of rhyming, alphabet review and vocabulary building with colorful pictures.
The WordsBright website provides a free MP3 file with a 6 minute song that sings the book to you. You can also download a free Teacher’s Guide for PreK and younger and a separate Teacher’s Guide for Kindergarten and up from their website. These are downloadable in PDF form and can help lead book discussion.
I read the book aloud with my 10 year old, my 5 year old and my 1 year old listening. We then played the song from the website. As we are a musically inclined family, the song was more interesting than the book. My 10 year old was definitely too old for the book but my 5 year old enjoyed the alphabet review and my 1 year old listened as best as a 1 year old listens.
The 1 year old loved the tune of the downloadable song. But she loves music and dancing around so that is what she did. My 5 year old and 10 year old thought the song was a nice way to present the book.
But this isn’t your average ABC book. The typical A is for Apple E is for Elephant is not what this books is about. K is for Kaleidoscope and U is for Universe are just some example of the vocabulary used in the books. As well as character and virtues that are discussed and utilized throughout the books like L is for Listening and Q is for Quiet.
Each letter has an illustration that corresponds with the word. Then a few sentences explaining the work in rhyming form follow. Some of the rhymes aren’t actually rhyming and this bothered me and my oldest a little but the younger ones didn’t seem to care.This book definitely presented different words for the ABC book and the vocabulary would be a good addition.
The Teacher’s Guide’s provides the parents/teachers with a way to expand on the topic, discuss the topic, and do activities in some cases. I liked that the Teacher’s Guides are free and they are broke down PreK and under and then K and up.
This isn’t an independent read for your beginning reader, though the pictures are enticing to the non-reader. The mini-poems or rhyming explanations that follow the words are definitely more difficult than a Kindergarten independent reader in most cases.
But as a read aloud it a quick read, something different, and has lots of uses.
You could use it to further studies on any word that interests your child. We found that we would read it and then stop on one of the words and discuss it. You know kids, something interests them differently every time. This was a nice catalyst for discussions on hearts and leaves, and even jewelry (frankly, the only one my 10 year old got into a discussion about).
The free word poster that you can download from the website was nice and colorful and focuses on virtue and character words but didn’t “match” the book per se, not that that necessarily matters.
Overall, it is a nice read. The author, Vick Wadhwa, does a nice job at making a new way of presenting ABCs.
PROS: New vocabulary words, nice and large illustrations, colorful, fun corresponding song
CONS: all poems did not rhyme
We liked the book and would recommend it to others for a nice, fresh read through the ABCs. I would definitely recommend it more for ages 3-5, though the company states it is for PreK through 2nd grade.
S is for Smiling Sunrise is available through many retail sites. It is available for $16.95 retail and you can check out how to purchase it here.
You can check out the WordsBright website here and see more information on S is for Smiling Sunrise book and see all the freebies available to accompany the book. Be sure to visit WordsBright on Facebook. You can also check out what the rest of the TOS Review Crew had to say by clicking the banner below.
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