21 June 2014 ED AND TED AND TED’S DOG FRED (My Readers, Level 2) by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton, ill., Square Fish/Macmillan, May 2014, 32p., 978-1-250-04448-8

“You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack”

-- Talking Heads, “Once in a Lifetime”

A zillion years ago, when I learned to read, this is what I was required to read: “Find Janet, Tip.  Find Janet.  Janet is not here.  Come Janet.  Come home.  Come with me.  No.  No Tip.  Go home.  Go home Tip.”

Today things are really looking up for newbie readers!

“They hit the water and sank like lead.  Poor Ed and Ted and Ted’s dog, Fred!  They were almost dead...when they were swallowed by a whale called Ned.  ‘Bother!’ said Ed,  ‘Bother!’ said Ted.  ‘Woof!” said Fred as they bobbed around in the belly of Ned.  But the whale called Ned--who was overfed--blew Ed and Ted and Fred out of the hole on the top of his head.”

ED AND TED AND TED’S DOG FRED is filled with textual action and illustrative hijinx  and words that end with “ed.”  It’s really funny and difficult to read aloud with a straight face. For children learning to extract meaning from written symbols, there are exciting payoffs in this book about two guys and a dog who cohabitate in a shack and who occasionally go plummeting over cliffs and saving themselves with a handkerchief parachute.

Richie Partington, MLIS

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