One story takes place in a railway yard and one of the track workers is a woman. However, I'll give the illustrations plenty of credit for trying to reverse sex-role steretyping. The illustrations in this book are also done by a number of different (uncredited) artists, but they're terrible! Look at this one: I can still remember many of the full-color pictures from my own grade school textbooks. (In another story the 'o' in 'horn' is repeatedly marked, but that's not a long vowel sound, is it? And what are the marks over every 'ng' about? AND WHERE IS THE CAPITALIZATION in the story?Īnd I hate to be one of those 'my childhood was better than today's childhood' types, but I have to say that the school readers from my day were beautifully illustrated in a number of styles.

Most seem to represent long vowel sounds, like the 'o' in 'goat' and the 'a' in 'day.' Yet they are used inconsistently (where is the long vowel for the 'a' in 'cape'?) or in ways I don't quite get. Here is the first page of 'The Pet Goat' and one its illustrations:įor the life of me, I can't figure out the diacritical marks used in the stories. The tales in the book are flatly-written and contain no spark or finesse. Bruner, no authors are listed for the individual stories perhaps Engelmann and Bruner wrote them all. Though the textbook is credited to Siegfried Engelmann and Elaine C. Taking my own advice, I ordered a copy of this book-for-a-buck for my own collection. Still, it's a part of history and it remains surprising to me that more book collectors haven't grabbed up READING MASTERY II : STORYBOOK I, the volume that contains this story - especially since copies can be found for as little as one dollar!

Two weeks ago, on the tenth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, I wondered why we didn't hear more about MY PET GOAT, the 'children's book' that played a supplementary role in the tragic events of that day.Īs it turned out, the correct title is actually 'THE Pet Goat' and it's not a stand-alone book, but a story from an elementary school reader. Today's Sunday Brunch revisits the book President Bush was reading when America was attacked, has a link to a Nancy Drew website, and wonders if the Printz Award really has much clout.

Stars in Her Eyes by Betty Cavanna