Octopus Under the Sea is a level 1 Hello Reader! book published by Scholastic and is designed for children ages 3 - 7, or preschool to first grade.

Octopus Under the Sea is a paperback book that measures about 9 inches by 5 inches. It has 32 pages that are all filled with bright colorful pictures and a story relating to the main character of the book, the octopus.

All of the pictures in the book are in color. When you turn to a page, you will see no more than 2 sentences for every 2 pages. The 2 sentences on the 2 pages will rhyme with each other, making it a little easier and a little more fun for your child to read. For example, two pages show the octopus hiding on the ocean floor with a shark overhead. The story says "An octopus seems to disappear when it knows danger is near."

The words are relatively short and there are not words in the story that the parents may even have a hard time pronouncing.

Octopus Under the Sea is a basic story of how the octopus lives in the sea. It shares information like how an octopus shoots out black ink as a trick to escape from sharks and other predators, or how it can be as long as whale or as small as snail. For each piece of the story, there is are pictures illustrated to go along with the information. The pictures are designed to also help your child realize what the story is about without knowing how to read the words. Although the pictures are illustrated, and not real photographs, they are still very good and do not look like cartoon drawings.

My 7 year old happens to enjoy anything that has to do with the ocean, especially the sea life. So he enjoys reading the story about the Octopus Under the Sea. With the pictures displayed, he could tell what the story was about even though he had problems trying to read the story. But after continuous reading & trying, he can now read most of the story to me.

If your young reader enjoys science, then I recommend this Hello Reader! Level 1 Science themed book. It's a book designed for parents to read to kids, kids to read to parents, kids to read by themselves, and parents & children to read together.

If sea life or science isn't your child's thing, you can choose from other titles. Some titles for Level 1 (preschool - grade 1) include:

The Bunny Hop
Footprints in the Snow
Itchy Itchy Chicken Pox
Pizza Party
Soccer Game

There are quit a few more to choose from, but I will not list them all. If you are interested in books with a little more difficulty, then you can try Level 2 books. Some titles include:

The 100th day of school
Fraidy Cats
Great Snakes
N-O Spells NO!

And there are more to choose from. They also have books for Levels 3 & 4. These books are for children from grades 1 - 3, or ages 6 - 9.

I highly recommend this book and have found the Level 1 Octopus Under the Sea book a very good learning tool for my son to continue with his reading education. I think the most important part is that the pictures help your child to be able to read the story.

ISBN: 0-439-20635-9
Publisher: Scholastic
Price: $3.99



Recommended: Yes