Title: Sing to Read!
Author: Deborah Leslie Ellis
Publisher: Westwood Books Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 978-1-64361-358-1
Pages: 86
Genre: Children / Education
Reviewed by: Allison Walker
Hollywood Book Reviews
Some children love to read, while others will do anything to avoid it. And for a child who struggles to learn how, reading can quickly become a dreaded chore. Educator and author Deborah Leslie Ellis has a solution to help some children learn to love reading: singing. Her children’s books Sing to Read! uses classic tunes such as Old McDonald Had a Farm and The Farmer in the Dell to encourage children to learn the alphabet and sing letter sounds.
Sing to Read! features large print and a picture on each page, making the book very child-friendly. The pictures help the child figure out what the song is about, but don’t give away the entire page. As an author, Ellis is thorough without being overwhelming; she easily and simply explains even contractions and punctuation with song.
A table of contents would make the book easier to navigate, and additional guides for parents and other educators would help direct teaching efforts. The instruction for teaching alliteration songs was extremely useful in using the book more effectively. In the notes, Ellis encourages her young readers to play games, “Have your students make up tongue twisters with names they know.” She also encourages her students to illustrate their tongue twisters, and hangs their alliterations and illustrations on her “Word Wall.”
Sing to Read! would do very well with an accompanying tape. Many of the songs adults will struggle to remember from their childhood and their children may have never heard them. Finding many of these songs online may also require some searching, since they are older tunes. Also, pronouncing the different vowel sounds in tune without initial guidance is difficult; few adults will recall these lessons from primary school. Placing pronunciation marks over the vowels may help an educated adult sing the right sounds, but it’s questionable how realistic reading “ē” is for a young child.
With her distinguished career in primary school education, several teacher award nominations, and as a vocalist in her church choir, Ellis’ educational children’s book, Sing to Read! feels like a natural coincidence of her many skills. With her fun jingles and interactive learning ideas, it’s clear how Ellis’ name found its way to Disney’s award nominations for creativity in the classroom!
Perhaps the most important lesson Sing to Read! teaches is how fun it can be for parents to get involved in their child’s learning. By giving parents and children a way to sing and read together, Ellis will no doubt encourage generations of young readers to come.