review 1: I'm a Turkey, by Jim Arnosky, is an educational, nonfiction story for young readers. It teaches kids about turkeys, even using technical terms to describe them and how they live, while still being simple enough for readers at even the most beginning stages of reading. There are few words to the story, but they are very detailed words. Books that teach children the truth about life, nature, animals, etc. are great because they don't develop unrealistic expectations for their future encounters with these things, and they still help children to develop their reading skills. The things you learn as a child, or at least accept as true, such as things from books, can stick with you well into adulthood so it's best to teach the truth to kids from the very beginning.Arnosky, J. (2... more009) I'm a Turkey?Scholastic: New York review 2: This is the perfect book to open a storytime about food, fun and family - because it is all about all three of these concepts. Immediately we meet Tom, a wild turkey, who in rhyme introduces us to his family and the other turkeys of his flock of 102. The illustrations are bright, the text has a great read-aloud rhythm and the humor is obvious even to my two and three year old audience. They giggled and one even stated, "Well, that's just silly" Very engaging storytime book. There was even an opportunity to count turkeys -don't do it on the two page spread of Tom's flock, but rather half-way through where there are six turkeys scattered around the meadow. less
