QUEEN VERNITA'S VISITORS by Dawn Menge

Queen Vernita’s Visitors by Dawn Menge and illustrated by Bobbi Switzer is yet another wonderful tool for parents, teachers and those home schooling their children to add to their teaching arsenal. This is one of those little books that will actually make learning fun for both those doing the teaching, and most important, the wee student. Well written and well illustrated, it is an absolute delight to the ear and the eye and ultimately, of course, to the mind.

There are certain basic bits of information we all have to learn as we grow older, telling time, how to tie our shoes, different colors, different shapes, and what is harmful, what is not. This work covers the calendar and all the aspects of the calendar. Days, Months, seasons and the order they come in. This may not seem like much, but it actually is rather important and rather than let the child learn through osmosis, or just pick it up as they go along, a good teaching tool is just what is in order and makes the job so much easier, faster and more enjoyable.

Queen Vernita is lonesome for her old friends and to remedy this, she invites them to her castle; one at a time for a one month stay. While at the castle they participate in a new and exciting activity each day of the week. Each page of this book covers one month starting with the numerical number of the month along with its name, then progresses to the days of the week, and the season. This is repetitive, each pages covers all the days of the week in order. The child is also taught the number of days in each month. By the end of the work, the child has recited each month and then all of the days of the week twelve times. The author has very cleverly worked into the last sentence of the book an easy transition which begs the reader to start the book all over again. This is neat and I got a kick out of it.

The illustrations in this work are in bold colors and expertly executed. The characters are quite unique, from the Queen, to her guests, to the small critters stuck here and there throughout as well as the various plants and trimmings. The illustrations are not overly cluttered, yet leave plenty of room for the individual reading the book with the child to discuss various aspects of the story and make their own additions, something I dearly love doing.

I had the opportunity to use this work with a group of first graders (twice) and they responded quite well, and in fact I was asked for second and third readings by each class. Endorsements do not get much better than this. I cannot for the life of me figure out how a child could not learn the months, days of the week, seasons and all their orders, after going thorough this work a few times.

The writing style is excellent and very carefully worded. The illustrations are great. Kids like it and it is fun to read with them. All the while the child is actually learning something. What more could you want?

Considerations :::
We could not find a Reading Level for this book, so the best assumption would be that you will need to read this to your children.