Bud & Roo’s Spectacular Adventure: The Beach is a lovely simple book for young children. The story tells of two dogs and looks at what they find and where it leads them.
The words used are really simple, so this book is best suited either for younger toddlers who need a short book to introduce them to sitting and listening to a whole book, or for new readers who may be able to read this book themselves. As it is simple it is easily manageable and would be good to give young new readers confidence. This is the type of book I would have chosen for Mr Z to read when he was new to reception year, or even now on the days when he is tired but I would still like him to practise reading. The names of the dogs are both very easily decodable words (Bud and Roo) suitable for children just getting started in Phonics and many of the words used are the high frequency words from reception year.
The story takes the pair to the beach, and there are plenty of things to spot in the pictures like shells, sandcastles and even a funfair, so this gives an opportunity to look at the pictures and chat about all the items.
The illustration style is quite different than many of the other book we have, in that it is very textured and you can see the original drawings have been done with pens and felt tips. This could encourage children to get their own felt tips out and have a go at their own Bud and Roo pictures!
It is a sweet book and one that I think we will keep getting use out of particularly as Mr T and Mr R also start learning to read in future.