Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot

     I've decided that this year we'll focus more on finding and enjoying 'just right' books.  Because my kids' reading levels are so varied, I think my biggest challenge is going to be getting my lowest readers into reading. (Isn't this every teachers biggest challenge?)  But it's going to happen because I've been searching far and wide for easier chapter books.  I've found a series that I think most of my kids will like, and I know my Makhammat will love.  Here is Ricky Riotta's Mighty Robot.

     Ricky Ricotta is a small mouse.  He's very bullied and very lonely.  As Ricky struggles, an evil scientist, Dr. Stinky McNasty, is busy programing his mighty robot to destroy the city of Squeakyville.  A friendship forms between Ricky and Mighty Robot that changes them both.

What I liked:

• It's a graphic novel!  Great for kids who still need the pictures to help remind them what's going on.
• Dr. Stinky McNasty is a great name for a rat villain.
• It's an actual chapter book.  Sometimes easy books are shaped like chapter books, but don't actually have chapters.  My smart, brilliant kids know the difference and don't like that their books don't have chapters.  
• There's "flip-o-rama action scenes" where you flip the pages and the illustrations come to life.  
• At the end there are step-by-step instructions for how to  draw the robot and the lizard monster.
• There's actually a moral to this ridiculous story: "that's what friends are for."

What I didn't like:

• Alright, alright.  It's a lame series.  I do worry a little that some kids will think they only can read a certain series (a problem I discovered in summer school.)  I hope we can try to stretch beyond the series after a while.  

     I'm overwhelmed with series for second graders.  What I would like to find is some real children's literature.  With chapters.  If you know of any at the K-1-2 level, I'd love to hear about it.