Mud, Bugs, and Other Tales by Sue Marasciulo

Today's read is one in a row of reads intended for beginning readers and/or those with dyslexia or other reading hurdles. It's created from a teacher and is intended to add as a tool to help readers tackle those words. Using the graphic novel form to get skills across made me smile, and I'm curious how this author goes about things.

So, let's take a peek.

MUD, BUGS AND OTHER TALES

A Decodable Graphic Novel

by Sue Marasciulo

Illustrated by Mangoyu

Beginning Reader   /   Graphic Novel

83 pages

ages 4 to 7

Join Pat and his pals for another laugh-out-loud adventure in the Pat & Pals series! Mud, Bugs, & Other Tales: A Decodable Graphic Novel delivers four hilarious stories in a vibrantly illustrated, full-color format – perfect for beginner and striving readers, including those with dyslexia, who crave the grown-up feel of a chapter book.

Every tale uses decodable text tailored for readers who have mastered decoding CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, digraphs, double consonants (ff, ll, ss, zz), and the suffix -s. Kids decode with confidence while cracking up at the antics.

Plus, educator and parent-friendly extras with every story: key vocabulary, inference-sparking questions, comprehension checks, and easy ways to link reading and writing.

Fun that sticks. Skills that click. One graphic novel at a time.

AMAZON

MY TIDBITS

A little adventure and quite a bit of humor make this a book beginning word-masters are going to enjoy.

This is one in a row of books, which highlights those first reading skills and concentrates on the foundation of learning and identifying words. The first pages include an explanation of what a 'decodable' book is, a quick guide into how the word learning works (CVC, digraphs, etc), and an overview around the learning tools in this book as well as how to use them. After that, there are four fun adventures...and I do mean fun. Lastly, there are questions with answers for each tale for checking reading comprehension, a list or writing ideas to expand on the stories, and, finally, adorable photos of the real life character 'Bo' for extra smiles. So, this is a complete reading theme, which can be used in classrooms, for extra practice, or for homeschoolers.

While all this goodness on the learning side happens, it's the enjoyable and silly stories which make the entire thing shine. Each story begins with a list of vocabulary words (and I mean very beginning) to make things easier on readers and help those words sit. Then, the stories shoot off with action and excitement. Each page holds about three frames, and these are brightly illustrated with tons emotion, which amplifies the atmosphere and keeps humor in high-gear. These accompany the short text wonderfully to add assistance to what is happening in the text. The text is simple and just right to keep frustration away, while concentrating on certain reading skills. The combination of simple text with exciting illustrations makes this a quick, easy read, which draws even very reluctant beginners in. Plus, the tales hit familiar tones while staying very much in the mind-set of the intended age group.

This is a very valuable resource for beginning readers and not one that should be overlooked, especially since it remembers and knows how to keep the joy of reading obvious.

And here they are...

Sue Marasciulo is a retired elementary special education teacher with a certification in an Orton Gillingham approved program (Wilson Reading System). Her passion is helping children with dyslexia to feel more confident in their abilities and gifts. Throughout her many years of teaching, she was inspired by her students’ fortitude, adaptability to learn, and how they excelled in many areas.
Now that Sue is retired, she has more time to focus on her passion for writing decodable books that will help beginner readers and those with dyslexia become independent readers. She enjoys hearing about how so many children are learning to feel successful with decodable books!

Sue lives in South Carolina with her husband, Al and their two rescued dogs, Scrappy Doo and Sunny. Sue has three sons, Matt, Greg and J.P. Her middle son, Greg is a professional wrestler with AEW and every now and again, Sue makes a brief appearance on the show with her famous van!

https://suemarasciulo.com/

Mangoyu, also affectionately known as Mango, spent the 2020 pandemic online happily bothering wrestlers with funny cartoon drawings of themselves, blissfully unaware that someday, the beloved world-famous Sue (mother of wrestler Trent Beretta) would discover her silly wrestling doodles. Two years later, Sue would ask Mango to join her on the exciting adventure of illustrating a children's books for kids with dyslexia.