Arthur's Birthday Party (I Can Read Books (Harper Paperback)) - Softcover

Lillian Hoban's books for children have been working magic for nearly thirty years. Her illustrations can help change an unfamiliar setting-like a museum filled with dinosaurs and whales-into a wondrous adventure, and her words and pictures together can transform chimpanzees and badgers into very real companions for the youngest reader.

Ms. Hoban was born and raised in Philadelphia. Among the first books she illustrated were the ever-popular "Frances" books, and several years later she wrote and illustrated Arthur's Christmas Cookies, thereby ushering in her beloved 'Arthur" series.

In 1967 Ms. Hoban was asked to illustrate Will I Have a Friend? by Miriam Cohen. It was the beginning of an enormously popular collaboration that produced more that a dozen books about Jim, Paul, Danny, Anna Maria, and the rest of the first-grade classcharacters as familiar to children as their own classmates.

Perhaps the key to the unfailing popularity of Ms. Hoban's stories and illustrations is that she's long been a keen observer of children, having had firsthand experience raising four of her own.

Lillian Hoban lives in Connecticut.

Kindergarten-Grade 2?Hoban continues her successful series with this fast-moving story with lots of child appeal. Arthur is planning his gymnastics birthday party. He begins by showing off his athletic prowess in front of his little sister Violet and her friend Wilma. At his party, he plans to win the prize for best all-around gymnast. In fact, he brags so much it's a wonder that Arthur's friends even show up on the special day. At the party, however, all of the guests win a prize for their stunts, and Arthur is bestowed the honor he coveted. Hoban uses simple words and straightforward sentence structure in this easy reader. Longer words such as "trampoline" and "gymnastics" have obvious picture clues and are repeated frequently. Here, the artist uses more colorful pastels than in her earlier books. Action-filled pictures of various sizes appear on every double-page spread. Birthdays have always been a favorite theme of new readers and they will be happy to celebrate with this little chimpanzee.?Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA
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