Mercy Watson to the Rescue
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me stage.
Why it fits Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me (for the kindergarten-ready set, between being read to and reading alone)
A porcine wonder's love of hot buttered toast drives the plot at chapter-book pace. Short chapters, full-color art, and DiCamillo sentences make the read-aloud leap painless. The whole series disappears in a happy week.
What makes it special
DiCamillo brings full literary craft — rhythm, irony, running gags — to the six-year-old chapter book. Chris Van Dusen's glossy gouache turns every spread into a small Pixar frame, easing picture-book kids into chapters. Hot buttered toast as a plot engine: absurd, specific, unforgettable.
From the publisher
After Mercy the pig snuggles to sleep with the Watsons, all three awaken with the bed teetering on the edge of a big hole in the…
About Kate DiCamillo
Kate DiCamillo has won two Newbery Medals — for The Tale of Despereaux and for Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures — and was National Ambassador for Young People's Literature for 2014–2015. Mercy Watson to the Rescue opens her six-book early chapter book series about a pig with an obsession for buttered toast.
She moved from Florida to Minnesota in her twenties, and wrote her first published novel, Because of Winn-Dixie, homesick during what she calls the worst winter on record in Minnesota.
Also by this author: Because of Winn-Dixie · The Tale of Despereaux · Flora & Ulysses
More from “Chapter One, Together”
This book is part of The Best Books for Beginning Readers: 30 Teacher Picks (Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.