By Stephanie Simpson McLellan
Two Tales of Twenty-Six
Illustrated by Mike Deas
Published by Red Deer Press
Hardcover: 64 pages – $23.95 CDN
Release Date: Nov 18, 2024
Audience: Ages 4-8
Subjects: Juvenile Fiction Early Reader First Reader Humorous Stories Family Parents
ISBN: 9780889957466
Two Tales of Twenty Six is an exciting new early reader in a flip book format.
Early Readers offer deliberate repetition and illustrations designed to support comprehension while still sharing great stories. In the spirit of Arnold Lobel’s “Frog and Toad” books, Red Deer’s first Early Reader, TWO TALES OF TWENTY SIX is two stories written for ages 4-8, designed in to a “flip-book” format.
In “Walter and the World,” meet Walter, the mouse who conquers twenty-six cats in order to reach the outside world; and then, when readers turn the book upside-down and back-to-front, they will encounter “Liam and the Letters”—a parallel story of a boy who conquers the twenty-six letters of the alphabet so he can then read Walter’s adventure.
A project about learning to read for children who are facing that challenge for themselves, TWO TALES OF TWENTY-SIX offers encouragement along with a look into the lives of two vibrant characters. This new early reader showcases captivating text from Stephanie McLellan combined with illustrator Mike Deas’s fun and clever colour illustrations.
EXCERPT FROM TWO TALES OF TWENTY-SIX: Liam and the Letters …
Liam’s tussle with the book begins when the leaves on the trees are the colour of fire and the wind smells like apples and earth.
A mouse stares at him through a closed window near the start. A silent glaring of cats fills the middle spread, and tiny mouse footprints dance across the end pages.
Liam wants to know why, but the random lines and loops of the letters stretch across the pages like fences.
YOU CAN’T COME IN
EXCERPT FROM TWO TALES OF TWENTY-SIX: Walter and the World …
Walter’s home behind the wall
was warm and dry.
It was neat and tidy,
and cozy and dark.
But Walter’s home behind the wall
was also small,
and Walter knew the world was big.
Walter loved his small home,
but he wanted to see the big world.
TWO TALES OF TWENTY-SIX REVIEWS
“Two Tales of Twenty-Six is more than the sum of its parts and that’s why it’s extraordinary. It’s a book that is geared to its audience perfectly, encouraging our youngest children in their reading, especially if they are frustrated, and allowing them to see themselves in a story while taking a step up in their reading from picture books.”
“With an intriguing design, superb storytelling, and charming characters to root for, Two Tales of Twenty-Six is a fabulous book beginning readers will flip over.”
“Kids will love how, after reading one story, they can turn the book over and upside down for the second one. The two stories meet in the middle when both Walter and Liam find solutions to their problems. It’s a clever device and a metaphor for the work it takes to decipher letters and combine them to make words. I can imagine reading ‘Walter in the World’ first, and then inverting the book for ‘Liam and the Letters,’ which has shorter sentences in briefer lines and more repetition. Expressive multimedia color artwork makes the reading fun and helps the beginning reader really get the characters’ frustrations. Liam is a brown-skinned boy and Walter appears to be living in the same house, which is a neat convention. I really like how this book covers the feelings around reading, and reduces the big problem to 26 small ones.”
“Two parallel stories – one about a mouse who outwits 26 cats; the other about a boy who learns to read – cleverly converge in the middle of this flip book by literacy advocate Stephanie Simpson McLellan. Mike Deas’s colourful spot cartoon illustrations are featured throughout.”
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
I borrowed the unique story format of (beloved) Tony Ross’s 1992 picture book, The Happy Rag, where readers access two parallel stories by flipping the book upside down. The stories begin at either end and meet in the middle, allowing Liam to enter Walter’s world and vice versa. I wrote the first draft of the story in 2014 while on tour in Labrador for TD Canadian Children’s Book Week. Immersed in the wonderful classrooms there had me thinking about the power of story but also reflecting that, unless I learned the Inuktitut letters and language featured prominently, I’d have no way to access that ᐅᖃᓕᒫᒐᖅ or uqalimaagaq means book (and, thus, no way to dive into their stories).
Two Tales of Twenty-Six will resonate with children 3+ who are either just learning to read or new readers, and to anyone who enjoys the heroic triumph of a good underdog-turned-conqueror story.
Two Tales of Twenty-Six is more than the sum of its parts and that’s why it’s extraordinary.