Words Are Magic! by Zaila Avant-garde and Felicia Whaley

Words Are Magic! (Step into Reading) by Zaila Avant-garde, illustrated by Felicia Whaley. 32 pages. EARLY READER. (leveled readers). Random House Books for Young Readers, 2024. $6. 9780593571675

BUYING ADVISORY: Pre-K - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: MANY

This leveled reader was written by a winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. A young girl loves words! She thinks they are magic! There are so many things you can do with words. You can sing them, shout them, draw them, and even build with them.

This is a Step 1 leveled reader. The sentences are repetitive and great for early readers. I liked that this book was written by a National Spelling Bee winner. You could tell that the girl in the book loved words and playing with them. It shows young kids how fun word play can be. The young girl protagonist is African American.

Reviewer: A. Criswell, English Language Arts teacher