Ick the Stick (Yes, I Can Read! Nature Series, Book 1)

Tabatha D’Agata
Bouncing Ball Books (2006)
ISBN 9781934138014
Reviewed by Cayden (age 3-1/2) and Max (age 20- months) Aures and Mom for Reader Views (5/08)


“Ick the Stick” is Book 1 in the “Yes, I Can Read! Nature Series” and is a great book for the beginning reader.  Sal and his mother go to the park to play.  While his mother reads, Sal takes joy in scaring various bugs by sneaking up on them and shouting “Boo!” causing them to scurry away or hide.  At the end of the book the tables are turned and Sal is frightened by a bug sneaking up on him.

Cayden:  “There aren’t bugs at my park.  There are just kids.”
Max:  “Park!”

Cayden:  “What does spooked mean?  Why did he scare the worms?”

Cayden:  “What’s ‘dart’ mom?  The dragonfly flew away, he didn’t ‘dart.’”
Max:  “Fly!  Scared!”

Cayden:  Pointing to the word ‘boo’:  “That word is ‘BOO’ mom!  I am scared when you say ‘BOO!’”
Max:  “Boo!!”

Cayden:  “His mom is scared of bugs!”

Cayden:  My favorite part was the end of the book because he doesn’t say ‘Boo!’ anymore!’”

Parent’s comments:

My children liked the story line of “Ick the Stick” especially since it involved being at a park which is one of their favorite places to go.  The illustrations in the book are simple and my children really enjoyed looking at the different bugs.

Cayden began to recognize a lot of the words used since there was a lot of repetition which is great for beginning readers.  I do think that some of the word choices were interesting like the use of ‘spooked’ instead of ‘scared’ which would have been more recognizable to young readers.  All in all “Ick the Stick” was a fun book!

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