John Willy and Freddy McGee by Holly Meade (1998)

 This book has it all: a riveting story for print motivation , variation in print to promote print awareness , great vocabulary including several words meaning hurry such as dash, scoot, and scamper. When the pool balls start falling the Wumpety wumps and bonkity bonks always bring a laugh as well as encouraging phonological awareness . Narrative skills are fostered by asking the children's opinions of whether they should venture out again and children are sure to notice that dangerous cat and talk about that. OK, maybe I can't think of a way letter knowledge plays into it….

-Jane Corry