Play Ball!

March 1, 2010
K-Gr 2-At first glance, "Farm Dog Martha" seems early-reader-friendly with its winsome cartoon illustrations of lovable, comical Martha. But turning the first few pages soon spotlights some graphic design and layout problems. In one spread, an illustration of a flock of sheep overlaps a picture of Martha on her bed at home. Crowded onto this same spread is a large picture of a coyote snarling at the sheep from the top right side. This jumbling of too many actions on one spread hinders readability. In trying to match picture clues with the text, beginning readers will become confused. The large typeface and short lines of text offset these issues in minor ways. In contrast, "Play Ball!" is a more successful blend of text and pictures, with both contributing equally to a fun early-reading experience in well-balanced spreads. Martha teaches her friend Truman how to catch a ball. Roomy white space surrounds text and illustrations, helping to create a focus. Beginning readers will be able to infer what new words mean, since the pictures showing them are placed alongside. The text and illustrations orchestrate together, so that less on each page is truly more."James K. Irwin, Evanston Public Library, IL"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2010
In Farm, Martha visits a farm, where she proves better at saving the sheep from a coyote than herding them. In Play, she coaches her friend Truman on catching a baseball but forgets about throwing practice. These two brief adaptations of episodes from the PBS series are as glossy as the cartoon representation of Meddaugh's trademark characters.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)