One Smart Cookie by John Nez

I'm pretty sure you could get any kid to like a book about a dog named Cookie who wears glasses and loves to read. Maybe some kids wouldn't jive as much about Cookie loving to read because, let's face it, a lot of kids don't enjoy reading themselves. That is really what this book is about. While Cookie reads everything he can get his furry paws on at home, the children in the family avoid reading at all costs. Cookie starts going to school with the little girl, Duffy, and enters the school spelling bee. Although he loses, Cookie alerts Duffy that there is a fire in the school and Duffy saves the day by reading the directions to pulling the fire alarm. Reading literally saves the day.

This story can really encourage young children to read and write. It presents these processes as though they are inherent in all of us, we just have to search for them deep down. This is an effective approach to reading for kids who think they cannot do it. We can show them that they can do it - reading and writing is somewhere within them; they just have to keep looking. The book also couples reading and writing into one process, which is also very important to notice. Reading and writing are highly intertwined - it is very difficult to do one effectively without being able to do the other. I have learned in my classes that it is most effective for students to work on both reading and writing at the same time, because as you are writing, you are reading what you are writing; the boundaries are gray.

As I was reading I was thinking of my second grade buddy with whom I am helping to read and write. At the beginning of our first session, I asked him if he was a reader. He immediately said no. However, he has shown me that he is an incredibly talented reader who is, in fact, reading at an advanced level for his age. He had just never thought about being labeled a "reader" before. I think it is important for teachers to teach their students about their literate identities in both reading and writing. It seems like that is all Duffy and Nash needed in this book - someone to show them that they, too, are readers and writers. This book is a good one to show emerging readers and writers that they are literate as well.