Review Detail

REALLY BIRD, REALLY GOOD BEACH PARTY! is an engaging early graphic novel for beginning independent readers. In this book, Really Bird is having a party on the beach, and he has invited lots of friends. They all arrive and help to set things up before they get to the festivities. At the end, they all help clean up and leave the beach as they found it.

What I loved: This is a simple but fun story that shows the series characters having a great party on the beach. Friends help to set up, and importantly, to clean up once the fun is done. Young readers will understand these concepts - but also the joy of time spent with friends and good food.

This series, and this book, are great for beginning independent readers who are advancing in skills. The font is large and easy to read, and the graphic novel style uses a lot of images that can provide context clues, but also keep the reading burden relatively low. The speech bubbles are easily attributed with different colors/shades for different characters and clear origination of the sound. There is also a lot of word repetition that helps to increase comfort with the text and moving along quickly.

The illustrations are very fun too with a cartoonish style that works well. Fans of the series will enjoy this latest continuation of the main characters' stories. The backmatter in the book provides some learning opportunities to learn about waterbirds, consider how they would plan their own party, and think about balloons. This adds to the educational context and can easily turn into a lesson plan.

Final verdict: REALLY BIRD, REALLY GOOD BEACH PARTY is a sweet graphic novel about having fun with friends that will work well for young independent readers.