What Matthew Lost

Title:  What Matthew Lost

Author: Bruce Larkin

Illustrator: John Bianchi

Publisher: Books For A Cause, Inc.

Genre: Book for Children Learning to Read

Level: Primary

Number of Pages: 8

Pub. Date: 2003

Summary: This book is about all of the things that Matthew, a young boy, lost. On each page it lists an different item like a ball or a truck. The book mentions 6 item that he lost and on the final page it shows him with a missing tooth saying, “and I lost my tooth.”

Critique:  The book uses repetitive sentence pattern by using “I lost my… and filling in the object at the end of the sentence. There are sight words like I and my, but you may have to place the phrase ‘I lost my’ because lost is a word that they may not be able to decode yet because it’s not a CVC word or a sight word. Most of the pictures help the student to read because the closely match the words, but some may not be words children normally use, like they may call the truck a car. The text is in the same place throughout the book and there is only one short sentence on each page. This text does not require the knowledge of the return sweep so it would be appropriate for a child learning about the concept of print like how to read right to left and turn the pages.

Response: This book would be appropriate for young children, most likely at a Kindergarten level. It might appeal more to a boy who plays with things like balls and trucks or to a child who often forgets things. It might also appeal to a child who recently lost a tooth because that is mentioned at the end, relating it to something as simple as losing a ball or a shoe. This book would be a good one for a young child who is learning to read because it has simple sentences with pictures that support the reader.