In these nonfiction readers for kids, basic concepts that apply to both reading and writing are emphasized. In this series "Write on!" the basic of use of capital letters is addressed in several books. In this particular book, readers are told that some place names begin with a capital letter. Each spread has one page with a very short sentence about a particular place and the capital letter is shown in a different color so that it can be easily identified. The opposing page show a full color picture that matches the point made in the text. For example, "Andy fished at Blue Lake." And the picture is a cute picture of young Andy with a big grin holding a large fish that he has caught. The selected places are representative of the types of places that kids would go and visit and the information and images also will be of interest to beginning readers. The final text page asks readers to identify the capital letter for the place mentioned in the text (The answer is provided.). All of the words found in the book are recapped in lists as to their appropriate part of speech (accompanied by definitions of noun, adjective, and verb), a pronunciation guide and the page number where the word appears. In this particular offering there is a list of other famous places on the closing page with all of the capital letters highlighted. It might have helped to introduce the concept of proper nouns to clarify what is capitalized. A useful book nonetheless for teachers and one that can broaden its reach across the curriculum. Others in the series include Cities, Days, Months, Names, and States. The books are leveled so the concepts are more complicated in the more advanced books. These are inthe Level 1 series. 2001, Sandcastle/ABDO, Ages 4 to 6.
— Marilyn Courtot
