Pingpong Perry Experiences How a Book Is Made

by Sandy Donovan

Perry likes pizza and pingpong. But one day he wonders what kind of pizza professional pingpong players would pick. When he can't find the answers at the library, Perry decides to write his own book. Follow Perry's idea from beginning to end, and find out how his big idea becomes a book.

Genres: Nonfiction, Picture Books, Storytime, Childrens

Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Yvonne A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pingpong Perry Experiencing How A Book is Made, is absolutely one of my new favorite books! It is definitely a great children’s book that I plan on using in my classroom. For one it is a book about writing a book and since the main character is a kid, children will be able to relate to this character. In this book Perry is in the process of becoming an author and is writing a book about things he loves the most, pizza and Ping-Pong. A book with pizza will definitely catch readers attention because what kid doesn’t love pizza?

The creators of the book really had fun with the way the text is displayed. The words were easy to follow along with and even though the text was in different places they were aligned in a way that was easy to tell which part was next to read. What stood out to me the most was the conversation bubbles that would explain the steps of how a book was published as the reader was reading. Each bubble was the same shape and color making it easy to identify and go back to review each step. I also liked how the illustrator includes a few real life photos to show real life book making.

This is a great book for learning. Readers are able to learn how books are made and what it takes to get them published. They will learn the importance of an author, publisher, editor, designer, illustrator, and many more roles that may be needed. This books also allows teachers to teach their students new words so that they may expand their vocabulary. I found words such as pondering, almanac, and puzzled, that would be great teaching moments for teachers to teach new words. The back of the book also includes a small glossary that includes definitions to words such as manuscript and publications.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like what Picture Window Books is trying to do with this series, but it just feels somewhat forced to me. I'm not quite sure how I could integrate this into library lessons. (Other topics in the series are: Dewey Decimal System, Fiction/Nonfiction and parts of a book.) I guess I would use parts of the book to illustrate my point, but reading it through might be somewhat dry. The computer-generated art and goofy alliteration are negatives. However, the glossary and more books to read sections are pluses.

[Maggie Mae · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about the making of a book. Perry is a boy who wants to write about what kind of pizza different professional pingpong players like to eat. So the story is his process of acquiring information as well as little tid-bits of information about the many steps required in order for a book to be made. It was an easy read and included a glossary with some of the bigger vocabulary words used in the back of the book so I'd recommend this for younger elementary students.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used this book when talking about how much work authors have to do to get a book published, although I tend to talk the kids through the pictures rather than actually read it. I like the silly alliterations and the goofy book topics, they really grab my first graders attention. It's not perfect for my needs, but is a bit easier to use in a lesson than What Do a Authors Do.

[Ms. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

An updated overview of how a book is made, starting with an author's idea and ending with the marketing team. It reminded me of Aliki's How a Book is Made from the 1980s. Pair this with the classic Reading Rainbow episode, Simon's Book to show students how the actual printing printing press works.

[Bethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The process of how a book is made has a modern, hip look, that should be popular with young readers. There is one photo of the printing machine mixed in with all the digital drawings. Could also be used for examples of alliteration!

[Bethany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Useful and accurate information, but the alliteration gets old within the first page spread.

[Marge]

How a book is made - from writer, designer editor, illustrator, publisher

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a realistic fiction book that documented how a book gets published and released. I would use this book to show the writing process for authors.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting info on how modern books are published.