Saila & Betty by C. Rooney

• Published in: The Deakin Review of Children's Literature
• Main Author: Campbell, Sandy
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Alberta Libraries 2017
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/deakinreview/article/view/28864; https://doi.org/10.20361/G2HC84

Rooney, Christina. Saila & Betty, illustrated by Ali Hinch. Inhabit Education, 2016.Inhabit Education has launched a series of text levelled readers, called the Nunavummi Reading Series. Saila and Betty has been levelled using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient Level: I, which makes it appropriate for upper level Grade 1. It is a picture book with two to three sentences per page including simple dialog. The sentences get progressively more difficult through the book. Ali Hinch’s comic-like artwork is black-line with bright colours for infill. The animals all show animation and emotions. While this is primarily a reading text, it contains a wellness message, as well. The story is a simple one about birds, who fly very well and seals, who swim very well discovering that while their strengths are different, and they are not very good at each other’s strengths at all, they can still be friends and have fun together. It is great to see curriculum materials being developed with Arctic themes. These will be very valuable learning tools in Arctic classrooms and as supplementary reading materials in southern classrooms. Highly recommended for elementary school libraries and public libraries. Highly Recommended: 4 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.