Review Detail

Gina has brand new white tennis shoes, and when she sees a sign that says "Help!" at school, she takes off running very quickly, so everyone thinks she is a great runner. She only ran so fast because she thought someone was in danger, but it was only Ramon inviting the children to practice. The Zigzag Zebras are going to race against the Timpanzi Tigers, so Ramon has them running around the school and the neighborhood. Gina and Clifton don't like to run-- they would rather sing or make music. The group runs into trouble, as well. They don't have enough money to get a bus to the Tigers' school, and will have to walk unless they can raise the money with a bake sale, they can't, so Gina has to walk and then run, which isn't so bad when she gets the group to sing on the way over, and keeps a song in her heart as she runs.
Gina has brand new white tennis shoes, and when she sees a sign that says "Help!" at school, she takes off running very quickly, so everyone thinks she is a great runner. She only ran so fast because she thought someone was in danger, but it was only Ramon inviting the children to practice. The Zigzag Zebras are going to race against the Timpanzi Tigers, so Ramon has them running around the school and the neighborhood. Gina and Clifton don't like to run-- they would rather sing or make music. The group runs into trouble, as well. They don't have enough money to get a bus to the Tigers' school, and will have to walk unless they can raise the money with a bake sale, they can't, so Gina has to walk and then run, which isn't so bad when she gets the group to sing on the way over, and keeps a song in her heart as she runs.

Emergent readers love series, and this one has a lot of characters to whom it is easy to relate. Gina doesn't want to get her new tennis shoes dirty, but does, and the chapter heading pictures show their evolution! I was glad to see that Gina eventually didn't mind running. There were a lot of supportive adults, as well as good sportsmanship.