Louise Loves Bake Sales (I Can Read! Level 1: Beginning Reading)

PreS-Gr 2--Louise loves all kinds of art, from classic portraits to abstract paintings. She can see art in everything around her. But can she incorporate art into her baking? The first grade bake sale is coming up and Louise wants to create artistic cupcakes. Not wanting to accomplish this task alone, she employs her brother Art, as her assistant. Louise starts with the primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. Then she realizes they can be mixed together to create purple, green, and orange. Now she has all of the colors she needs to make a rainbow. Unfortunately, her assistant gets a bit carried away and the final color becomes a drab gray. Louise is persistent artist and baker. She uses her imagination--and some inspiration from her brother's robot costume--to use the dull color frosting and create whimsical cupcakes. This is a good book for beginning readers. The sentences are short and the words are easy to decipher. There is plenty of repetition to help young ones retain newly acquired words. It also incorporates a bit of science and art. The three primary color words are reviewed as well as the secondary ones. The illustrations are entertaining and provide strong support for the text. Even though Louise's little brother does not say a word, he's a major character in the story. The book teaches a lesson about working together and not giving up. VERDICT A must-have for easy reader, maker, and picture book collections.--Barbara Spiri, Southborough Library, MA