Moe is Best

Reviewed by: Sheila Dube - Springvale Public Library, Springvale, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: October 29, 2014

Review

This very beginner reader shows Moe, a monkey, and his two siblings doing basic daily things that preschoolers learn to do such as brush teeth, tie shoes, feed cat, drink milk, read a book and play basketball. Moe is the youngest and for each skill he says "I am the best"? while the illustrations show the exact opposite. When he becomes frustrated at not making a basket, over and over, again his brother reminds him that he is "the best at trying"?. The layout provides lots of blank space with each action being the focus of the spread. There is one sentence of text per spread such as "Moe can tie his shoes"? and then each of the three characters provide a sentence of dialogue in a speech bubble. The characters have large cartoon circle heads and look like children, but are really monkeys due to tails. Although the illustrations have a somewhat flat appearance, it works to keep distractions from the text minimal. The characters do show varying expressions that add to the contradicting humor of the text.

Overall Book Score: good