Penny and Her Marble

Penny and Her Marble

Author and Illustrator: Kevin Henkes

Genre: Fantasy (Animal)

Major Awards: Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Honor book, 

Grade Level: Prekindergarten-2

Summary: In this "I Can Read!" book, Penny takes her doll, Rose, on a walk to Mrs. Goodwin's house and back. When she is about to turn back around to go back to her house, she spots a shiny, blue marble in Mrs. Goodwin's lawn. She picked it up and rushed back home. She admired and played with it, until she started to feel very guilty. After having stomach pains and nightmares, Penny decided to return the marble to the lawn. Before she could get back home, however, Mrs. Goodwin stopped her and told her that she found the marble in her house and put it in her lawn for someone else to find and enjoy. Penny was elated and went back to playing with and admiring her new blue marble.

Evaluation: This is a great book for young children who are still learning to be fluent readers. It has short chapters, so they would feel as if they are reading something advanced, but will also have plenty of stopping places. I would definitely use this book in my class because it teaches students about respecting what belongs to others and that lying and stealing is wrong.

Like I stated above, this book is a great choice when working on fluency in reading, which is why the book is best for prekindergarten through second. Not only is it good practice with large font, recognizable words, and interesting characters, but it also teaches a lesson about growing as a person (or mouse). The illustrations also provide context and can help students figure out new words.

I would not use this book to teach a lesson to the whole class, but would have it in my classroom library for students to check out and read independently. I think it would be a good idea to ask comprehension questions or even have them draw a picture about the story and explain it, especially for young children who are not only working on reading fluently, but also comprehending what they read.