Ling & Ting
Twice as Silly
by Grace Lin
Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2014. 44 pages.
This is a chapter book for beginning readers. It includes six stories with a surprise, silly payoff for readers who get to the end of each story.
Not to be spoilery, I’ll give an example of one story. Ling and Ting are playing on swings and Ling says she can swing higher than a tree. Ting challenges her, asking “A tree that is taller than a giraffe?” then a building, a mountain, and more. Ling says “Yes” to every challenge. Here’s the end page of that story:
“Okay,” Ting says. “Show me how you can swing higher than a tree.”
“I am doing it right now,” Ling says. “We both are.”
“We are?” Ting asks. “How?”
“It is easy to swing higher than a tree,” Ling says. “A tree cannot swing.”
Another fun thing is that the last story, “Not a Silly Story,” pulls in an element from each of the earlier stories.
This book uses simple words, repetition, and picture clues to help beginning readers. But it is not boring. The silliness and fun little twists at the end will leave readers smiling, over and above the sense of accomplishment they will gain from reading these on their own.
gracelin.com
hachettebookgroup.com/kids
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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.
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