Spencer Loves You (Spencer the Cat)

SPENCER LOVES YOU is a book about Spencer’s family and features all the important words in his life to describe the family. This book would incorporate nicely into a unit on family for preschool or daycare teachers. A preschool milestone is to name the members of their immediate family and be able to draw at least 3-5 body parts in an illustration, which Spencer does on page one. This book would make it easy to discuss with a child about their families. Making it perfect for text-to-self-connections. The sentences are simple, and the illustrations would make this book a good choice for early readers and writers to decode the words and mimic the sentence structure in their writing. In their simplicity, the sentences do have a bit of a stilted cadence when reading aloud, but that is partly why it would work so well for beginning readers, much like BOB books and other books for early readers. Overall, this is a good book for young readers and brims with possibilities to use in an educational capacity.

SPENCER LOVES YOU is an adorable board book with a message of familial love. Spencer loves his family, and they love him too. He loves sharing their favorite things with them. For instance, Spencer loves his Mommy, and his Mommy loves to read - so they love to read together. The die-cut board book features Spencer on one side of the book with the activities and family member discussed on the other side.

What I loved: This simple concept delivers well for older infants and toddlers. The text has a repeated pattern in terms of structure, switching out family members and activities. This is perfect for young learning minds, who need this type of repetition as they learn. Spencer is adorable, and the way he ends up spending time with his family will resonate with young readers. I love that he bakes with his father, plays outside with his grandparents, and spends time with his siblings. It's a sweet but simple read about family interaction.

The illustrations are full of bright colors and simple concepts that work perfectly for this age group. Relevant items on each page are also labeled to aid with early word recognition. The die-cut format is cute and adds interest for board book readers.

Final verdict: An adorable board book about family, SPENCER LOVES YOU is a delightful read about sharing the things you love with the people you love. The repetitive terms, bright colors, and simple concepts will appeal to older infants and young toddlers.