Early Readers - Tiny Goes Camping

Tiny Goes Camping by Cari Meister 2006

This is a true blue level one reader. Meister does a good job in keeping the story going while sticking to very basic and easy to read words, which is hard to do at this level. The artist Rich Davis also does a good job in capturing the spirit of the story and helps add to it by using expressive artwork that tells the story and identifies words. The story is about a boy and his dog Tiny going camping, of course. We follow the nameless boy and his dog as they prepare what is needed to go camping like a map, food, flashlight, etc. The boy and Tiny stake out their camping site and enjoy the fun. (Caution for those caring for an adventurous soul: The boy has an unsupervised campfire.) This would be a really good book to have a new reader try on their own and then read aloud to you. There will be some comparison of Tiny to the famed big red dog “Clifford”, but the similarities do not take away from the charm and ease in reading. Also, it appears this is one in a series of easy to read books about Tiny. Tiny as an oversized dog is not an original idea, but the series may be worth checking out. Probably best for ages 5 and up.