#8 Buster

 Title: Buster

Author: Denise Fleming

Illustrator: Denise Fleming

Publishing Company: Henry Holt and Company

Copyright Date: 2003

# of Pages: 32

Genre/ Category: Picture Books

     I chose this book because I really liked the way the cover looked. Buster is one happy dog until Betty the cat is brought home in a big brown box. Buster is terrified of cats, but Betty wants Buster's attention. Finally, Buster has had enough, so he runs away to the park and gets lost. He looks up to the sky and can see Betty at the top of a tall tree trying to show him the way home. He makes it home safely and realizes that he is happier than he ever was before Betty came along.

    Denise Fleming creates her illustrations by pulp painting. Pulp painting is done by pouring colored cotton fiber through hand-cut stencils. I had never heard of pulp painting before, but I really liked the illustrations. The animals in the story almost look fuzzy of puffy. On each page, the entire page is colored, and the words are printed on top of the illustrations.

     This book would be appropriate for children ages 4-8. It is a simple book, but it does have a map showing the way Buster made it home on one of the pages. Buster would be a good book to study maps with. The children could read the map key and find points on the map, or they could read how Buster got home in the book and find the route he took. Buster also has headings that introduce different sections. Teachers could explain how headings give us a preview of what is coming in the next part of the book, and let the students make predictions. This book would be a good book to let students read right before they are ready for chapter books since it does have headings that are sort of like chapters. Teachers could also read Buster and let students do a journal entry about something that scares them or a time they felt lost.