Hey Jack/Billie B. Brown

Book #29

Hey Jack/Billie B. Brown
Sally Rippin

I can’t recommend this series enough to my friends and family.

My kids love these books! When my son started reading chapter books he was not intimidated to pick them up and start reading on his own. He often laughs out loud and can relate to what Jack is going through in the story. Another point of interest, they talk about feelings in all the books which can be a difficult topic for any child, especially boys. The character, Jack, often describes how his body feels when he is nervous, excited or afraid. It’s so wonderful that a kid, the readers age, is talking about topics such as spelling tests, new friends, sleepovers, sports, etc. Your child will feel confident reading these books! There is also a series, Billie B. Brown, that may appeal to your daughters more than Hey Jack but they are both equally wonderful. Jack and Billie are best friends so they appear in each other’s books quite often.

Sally Rippen wrote these books because her son struggled with reading. Each book is written so that no words cross over onto another page, there are no hyphenated words, and some words appear bigger than others. These books were written with a very specific purpose in mind. One is for a child to pick up the book, look at the page and say "That doesn't look so hard, I can read that." The other is to give kids 6-8 a fun, engaging story that they can relate to and learn from. There are not more than 50 words per page which make them great introductory chapter books. There are more than 15 books in each series. 

ACTIVITY: Use the theme of the book as a conversation starter with your child. Have they ever been nervous at school or not sure how to handle a situation with a friend? Ask them what they feel when they are nervous. Does their stomach hurt, do they tense up? The more your children is able to recognize their own feelings the easier it is for them to work through them.