HAIRY, SCARY, ORDINARY: WHAT IS AN ADJECTIVE?

Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What Is an Adjective?

Written by: Brian P. Cleary

Illustrated by: Jenya Prosmitsky

Lerner Publishing Group Inc., 2000

28 pages

Non-Fiction 

         Recently I taught  a lesson on adjectives and when I saw this book I instantly wished I had spotted it sooner. This book starts off by giving the definition of an adjective. Then the book continues by explaining adjectives and how they are used in a fun way. As the book explains adjective,  it incorporates several examples while keeping a fun and energetic flow. The book ends by asking the question, "So, what is an adjective? Do you know?"    

        Just like the author, the illustrator of this book did an excellent job of making adjectives fun. To emphasize adjectives, the illustrator illustrates the descriptions of the examples that are provided by the author. It appears that the illustrator used colored pencils for the creations and the text is very informally placed. The adjectives are in colors while the remaining of the story is written in classic black. This reason for this is to highlight the adjectives. 

         I would highly recommend this book for classroom use for grades kindergarten through fourth grade. This book would make an excellent introduction to a lesson on adjectives. Also, if provided in a classroom library, students can refer to this book for self study. Unfortunately  the book has not won awards, but the author has a series of award worthy books such as this one. Brain Cleary also has books about nouns, addition, subtraction, and pronouns. I personally, would like to included some of Brain Cleary's other books as well when introducing various topics.