"Little Red Writing" surpassed all of my expectations. I expected it to be a simple story about little red riding hood except the girl is now a pencil. I was very wrong. This book teaches while entertaining! It goes through the writing process, details many different parts of speech, and talks about punctuation. I would use this in an upper grade classroom by reading it aloud to the class before the students have to write a story or paper. It would remind them of grammar rules and sentence structure while letting their minds think about what they want to write. Just like in the book, I would give students 15 categorized words to use in their story. After reading the book aloud to the class, I would have the students come up with a 2 page story using those 15 words. 

Lexile: AD 740L

Guided Reading: O

Grade Level Equivalent: 3.5

This book would be great for 2nd grade for Johnny Appleseed day. During my observations at Liberty Park my CT had fun activities and this would go along perfectly. They made "hats" out of construction paper that would be so exciting for them.

About the Book

Title: The Knights Before Christmas | Author: Joan Holub | Illustrator: Scott Magoon | Publication Date: September 8, 2015 | Publisher: Macmillan / Henry Holt | Pages: 32 | Recommended Ages: 4 to 8

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MY REVIEW

I saw The Knights Before Christmas by Joan Holub and I thought, what better way to kick off the upcoming holiday season than with a classic, of sorts.

Written with humor and wit, what child wouldn’t delight in feeling they are a hero by saving the castle from the invaders, even if it is Santa.

There will be “reindeer” and Santa and gifts galore.

They will cower with fear, yet man the walls.

The book is large and thin, making it easy for the small hands in the household to hold onto. My biggest concern is the pages in those grasping little hands, how well will they hold up.

The illustrations describe the action, word by word, in vivid color.

A fun book to add to a child’s reading list, but I was left a bit confused at the ending. Santa bad? And a Trojan Horse? How would a 5 – 8 year old child respond to it?

I have not reviewed many children’s books, but these are my thoughts. Am I being too harsh? Your thoughts may be quite different, so be sure and check it out for yourself.

I received a copy of The Knights Before Christmas by Joan Holub in return for an honest review.

  3 Stars

We received this book to give an honest review.

This was a neat take on old story we all know Twas the Night Before Christmas.

In The Knights before Christmas we have three knights who when hearing a clatter they go and investigate oh but behold who could it be? I think it may just be Santa Claus but will the knights let Santa in or will they try to stop him from invading the castle? 

K liked the whole story there wasn't just one favorite part though he did say he liked how Santa had dragons. 

I liked the little thought bubbles when the knights would speak. They were actually quite funny. The illustrations were wonderful though the only thing I would say is that if Santa has dragons instead of reindeer they should look like dragons. To me they just looked like black reindeer.

I think children ages 4 on up will really enjoy this story as it is full of laughter, rhyming and great pictures. We will be reading this book right before Christmas as it will make a perfect night before Christmas read.