billie's great desert adventure

"Mom, can we read Billie and Jack go on a trip?" Josh has asked me this every couple days since we got this book - and I'm happy to oblige. :) I picked up Billie's Great Desert Adventure, written by Sally Rippen and published by Kane Miller, when it was one of our customer specials. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, not having read any of this series, but I was pleasantly surprised!

The Billie's Adventures series is a spinoff of the Billie B. Brown series - a group of short chapter books designed to help kids get used to the idea of reading chapters. Billie is in early elementary school, and her best friend Jack has a parallel series (see Hey Jack!). The adventure spinoff is still about Billie and Jack, but when they are in pre-school. No chapters, just picture books.

In this story, Billie is dropped off at preschool on a rainy day. She wants to play outside with her puddle-stomping boots but is disappointed when her teacher tells her it's too wet and suggests reading instead. Grumpy, Billie hides herself in a pile of cushions, not wanting to play with anyone, even Jack. But Jack comes over anyway and says, "cool! a cave!" And with that, Billie and Jack are off on an imaginary adventure of caves and treasure and thieves and magic carpets. 

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When Billie and Jack return to their preschool room, you see that they are surrounded by books, two of which show a magic lantern and a flying carpet. It's a great way to highlight they way kids can play make-believe... and how books can help them do it! You get a glimpse of this imaginative world even on the front cover, which shows Billie on her magic carpet but has a peek-through to the inside front page, which shows Billie sitting on a table, talking to Jack. The connection is subtle, but enough to spark a conversation with your little readers about how they can play make-believe, too!

It's that book that models imaginative play through an enchanting story.

Book benefits: 

• The fun adventure keeps kids engaged
• Large text helps young readers pick out familiar words
• The story models using books to spark imagination
• Sturdy hardcover binding will stand up to many, many re-readings!

Order Billie's Desert Adventure here! (hardcover, $10.99)
And check out the other books in Billie's adventure series: underwater, wild jungle, and bakery

Also available - these are series, but each book has a self-contained plot: 

• The Billie B. Brown series (15 chapter books in the collection, young elementary)
• The Hey Jack! series (15 chapter books about Billie's best friend, young elementary)
• Billie's mystery series (6 chapter books, slightly older)