Characters often sell a story. In this case, the winsome character is an adorable puppy named Biscuit. He yearns daily to please his young female owner. Sometimes that means trying over and over to learn to fetch a ball. Other times, it means pretending with his mistress that a kid pool and a sand box are the same as going to the beach.
Another way that Biscuit makes himself endearing is that he doesn’t have a mean bone in his small body. He makes friends with kittens, bunnies, ducks, fish, and neighbors both near and far. When his young female owner tries to hold a picnic just for her human friends, Biscuit rounds up his critter friends and they all join the picnic. After all, why can’t everyone have a picnic together?
While young children will relate to Biscuit’s zest for life, they’ll also appreciate that Biscuit remains all puppy. Indeed, it’s his doggy antics that keep the innocent tales balanced or from becoming saccharine. Take for example, spring cleaning day. Biscuit wants to play, but his dog house needs to get repainted. His mistress diligently painted the doghouse yellow and prints Biscuit’s name on it in red. In the meantime, her young pup and his friends decide to help. The result is a paint spill and one very unique dog house!
Being able to read an entire collection of stories in one sitting about Biscuit allowed me to see how lovable he is. Along with other fans, I want to grab him right out of the pages to cuddle. Unfortunately, reading ten stories in row about the same little puppy also caused me to become more aware of issues which can plague series. First, there seems to be a certain formula to the stories. In the case of the Biscuit stories, there’s often a surprise twist at the end—and they don’t always feel natural. Second, there is varying quality in the tales. Not all of the stories satisfied me as much as others. Unless one plans to purchase the 50+ Biscuit titles, this probably only becomes an issue with collections such as the one I have.
Speaking of collections, I have a couple of design concerns. As I noted above, there doesn’t seem to be a reason for the order of selections. For that reason, I ended up really wishing for a table of contents, which would allow me to easily flip to the stories I most liked.
These few issues aside, the Biscuit Storybook Collection is the perfect way to introduce a young child to the joys of reading. The large typeface, simple words and repetition make the stories easy to read. The pictures are soft and gentle, but also full of expression and activity. All of Biscuits stories are all part of the I Can Read imprint, and are perfect for new and emergent readers, but also enjoyable enough for the adults who will share the stories with those readers.
Reprinted from Allison’s Book Bag. This article is original in content and not to be reproduced without permission. Copyright 2014.
Lincoln Pet Culture 