179. The Adventures of Silly Billy by Tamara Kitt

The Adventures of Silly Billy by Tamara Kitt. Pictures by Jill Elgin (Out of Print)
Wonder Books Easy Reader

Pages: 61
Ages: 7+
Finished: Sept. 1, 2010
First Published: 1961
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Genre: children's, easy reader
Rating: 4.5/5

First sentence:

Far away and long ago there was a boy.

Acquired: Own a copy.

Reason for Reading:My son read this aloud to me as his reader. These used to be some of my favourites when I was little and I used to have a big collection of them but had to get rid of them on our big move across the country 5 years ago and this is the only one I've run across, so far, since then.

These are wonderful readers with absolutely fun stories. They do use a limited vocabulary but it is a large one to start with. The introduction lets the parent know the number of words used at least thrice, five times, 10 times and more and the story uses repetition to help learn those new words. Appropriate for primary children.

This story is adorable. Set up like a fairy tale Billy's parent's call him Silly Billy as he is always doing things such as planting popcorn and trying to grow it. Billy is tired of being called Silly so he sets off to prove his is not. On his journey he is fortunate to find people sillier than he, a man trying to get water out of the lake with a pan full of holes, a group of men who are sad because one of them is lost as whenever the leader counts the men there is one less than they started out with and a nice house with no windows that has men fusing in and out with empty trays. Billy finds a way to solve all three problems and they all think he is so wise, giving him gifts in exchange. When he returns home he wants to be called William the Wise.

Entertaining story, humorous, involved plot, cute pictures which will also appeal to reluctant readers who enjoy fairytales.