Dr. Seuss' Hop on Pop - Helping Another Child to Learn to Read
Written: Oct 27 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Simple words help children feel sense of accomplishment
Cons: A little too long for younger readers
The Bottom Line: Hop on Pop is great for the beginning reader, although a little long.
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| mmcphee's Full Review: Dr. Seuss - Hop on Pop |
When children are learning to read repetition is important. Seeing the same letters, hearing the same sounds and saying the same words over and over again helps them master this important skill. Unfortunately, as a parent, I want more variety. So, as I have started on this journey with each of my children, they each received new beginning reader books. My son and I have been enjoying our time with Dr. Seuss. His current favorite is Hop on Pop.
Inside the Book
Hop on Pop is not a story so much as a collection of rhyming words joined together in simple sentences. Rhyming words are in large font at the top of each page, allowing the reader to preview the words before attacking the sentences. The color pictures on each page are full of whimsical characters that appeal to children.
Our Experience
My son had learned to sound out simple words before we purchased Hop on Pop, so he was ready to jump right in when I showed him the book at the store. While up, pup and cup dominate the first few pages, I was a bit surprised when mouse and house appeared on the next set of pages. While Four was able to decipher the words based on the illustrations I was surprised by the jump from simple "up" words to words children can't sound out. Fortunately that is followed by several pages of "all" words and we were back to sounding out words.
While completely without a unifying plot, Hop on Pop does attempt to link pages together by using the same characters for several pages; my son refers to these as "stories." For example, the two furry characters who "like to walk" and "like to talk" on the next page like to "hop on pop." It makes the book feel much less like an exercise in word recognition and more like a story.
After a dozen or so readings my son has clearly memorized the book, however he doesn't just rattle the pages off from memory, he still takes his time and looks at each word. These repeated readings help build his fluency; children need to correctly pronounce a word five to ten times before it becomes a sight word. The fun text and illustrations in Hop on Pop make repeated readings enjoyable for children and adults. And it has worked. Four picks out seemingly random words at the grocery store that he learned from reading Hop on Pop.
Final Thoughts
My only complaint about Hop Pop is the length of the book. At 64 pages it is a bit long for a book subtitles "Simplest Seuss for the Youngest Use." The first few times through we split the book into halves. Even now that he can confidently read Hop on Pop at times he seems to tire of reading and has me take over for a few pages. Holding the book to about 40 pages would better suit new readers. Overall a great book for helping children learn to read.
Recommended:
Yes
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mmcphee
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Member: Mary Ellen
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