Mail Carriers

This small set of community workers touches upon the nuances of each job. Each title follows a scenario where a child wants to be that worker and needs to know what that person does. Text is clear and simple. Photographs are bright and up-to-date and show current technologies. The background on each profession includes tools used. New vocabulary words are introduced and explained within the text. Each title covers the different aspects of a job. The series is perfect for the early reader or to introduce the topic in lower grades as an easy read-aloud. Each book ends with a labeled picture. A few simple reading and comprehension activities are listed for use before, during, and after reading. Glossary. Table of Contents. Index.

Through excellent combinations of simple sentences and full-bleed stock photos, these books inform young readers about helpers in their communities. What sets this series apart from similar titles, such as Rosen Power kids’s “On the Job” series (2010), is that the people in the photos are named—and that these names are easy to read and pronounce. For example, Mail Carriers states, “Cora is on a route. She goes to the same houses each day. Today she has a package. It is for Mr. Ross.” Despite the simplicity of the text, Doctors does not shy away from tough topics, showing a close-up image of a patient receiving an injection and later one of a smiling boy entering an MRI machine accompanied by the text “Ty has cancer. He is in the hospital. Dr. Cole takes care of him.” While the title page of Librarians features a card catalog, the rest of the book shows librarians helping adults and children using computers for research. A note to parents and teachers encourages adults to talk with children as they read the text and explore pictures together. Indeed, this series is ideally suited to modeling dialogic reading in a storytime and expose children to easy nonfiction. Libraries looking to strengthen their easy nonfiction collection will greatly benefit from these additions.–

With declarative text and glossy, full-bleed photos, the Community Helpers series introduces adult professions to the youngest readers. What sets this package apart from similar series is a particularly clean and stylish design and a willingness to show the unpleasant sides of the job—an unusual but welcome approach. Doctors is especially sober. Sensitive readers may be disturbed by those flecks of blood on the surgeon’s coat, and that close-up of stitches going in may cause even adults to blanch, too. The tone is kept light (“Ow! It hurts a little”) even when the situation is serious: “Ty has cancer.” Mail Carriers follows the mail from the sorting shelves to the bin, to the truck, and to your door, mentioning along the way fun details (the red flag on a mailbox) as well as differences between city and country routes. Police Officers doesn’t flinch from shots of a criminal being cuffed, cops in riot gear, and an officer approaching a car crash. For balance, there are K-9 units! Teachers “help kids learn,” and we see just that via lesson plans, computer tablet use, field trips, gym class, and even teachers staying late to grade tests. An impressive blend of comforting tones plus realistic content.