Meg and Greg: A Duck in a Sock

by Elspeth Rae

A decodable book featuring four phonics stories specially designed to help children of all abilities overcome language-based learning difficulties.
Meg and Greg are hanging out for the summer doing what ten-year-olds do—helping an injured duckling, finding a lost pet fish, saving ranch animals from a wildfire and catching a wandering sloth!
A Duck in a Sock is the first book in the Orca Two Read series designed for shared reading between a child learning to read and an experienced reader. Inside you'll find four stories that introduce one new phonogram (a letter or combination of letters that represent a sound) in each the ck , sh , ch and th phonograms. Each story builds on the previous ones by including words with the phonograms already introduced. In addition, the series has special features to help a child with dyslexia or another language-based learning difficulty achieve reading success.

Genres: Childrens, Chapter Books

170 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 8, 2020

Reviews

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book with a clever idea for struggling readers who are a little older than most early readers: it's a book designed for shared reading, with an experienced reader and a struggling reader each reading a side of the page. Meg and Greg have lots of adventures including assisting a baby duck who has been hurt, replacing a lost pet fish, rescuing farm animals during a wildfire, and recapturing an escaped sloth. Each chapter focuses on a consonant digraph: ck, sh, ch, and th.

I'd love to see this in action.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a passionate reader - I have always been this way since I was young. My parents could always find me curled up with a good book. I try to always encourage my boys to embrace the joys of reading. I know that it is not always easy for children and parents. We even went through our own difficulties. Reading can be a challenge for some children and the learning process difficult for parents.

Meg and Greg is a book designed to help young children who are struggling in learning to read and their parents (who may not know how to help their children) succeed. I loved that the stories were exciting and used language that was natural for us to read aloud. Some readers can be awkward and the stories unexciting when you read them together. This is not the case for these two amazing young children - they save a sloth, lose and rescue a fish and even save farm animals. The story can be read together as you start out, then you can encourage your child to read the shorter lines while you read the longer sentences either together or to them. As they progress, they can definitely tackle the challenge of reading the longer sentences.

What I really thought was fantastic was the font - they specifically used font that children can recognize. So many times when we are out and my youngest is trying to read signs, he is frustrated by companies that use a funny font that he can't recognize (not to mention the confusion when companies purposely put a letter backwards!). This was done on purpose so that children recognize the letters and can read the words easily.

Meg and Greg is a four-story book that is an excellent tool for parents to help their child on their reading journey. I found it not only great for children with learning difficulties but all children in general. It incorporates so many great ideas on how to help children succeed which helps to empower them in their journey. This is a definite must have book for young readers!

[nickysams · Rating 5 out of 5]

" 'Could we pay for the half of the fish and work for the other half? The shopkeeper smiled. 'Well,' she said, 'which half will you pay for, and which half will you work for?' ' - Rae & Rae

Meg and Greg's adventures got me to laugh and I wasn't expecting that. I don't have children myself but I'd recommend this book to those that do! This is book 1 in what will be an incredible series. The co-authors are a sibling duo: one educator and one biologist. You can see both of their professions at work here. The (4) stories are well written and well illustrated. The illustrations carefully highlight the words being reviewed in each chapter. Although the book is for children with neurological/ neurodevelopmental disabilities it's fun in its own right for all children between the ages of 6-9. Rae and Rae thoughtfully placed review activities at the end of each "story" for an interactive reading.

N. Sams
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[Cricket · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the perfect series for students learning phonetic blends and are ready for the next stop of from “Bob Books” level beginning readers. Right now I read the full text pages on the left and my 7 year old reads the comic pages on the right. He also could read the left pages (to give you a clue as to the compared difficulty) but switching off and on helps lessen his fatigue and increase his stamina. We love this series and hope they make more.

[Carolyn Combs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brief overview: Meet the can-do characters, Meg and Greg, who help animals in trouble. Children ages six to nine with language-based learning difficulties like dyslexia, and younger children learning to read, will be drawn to the four adventure stories in this book. Each adventure features animals, plenty of problems, and one of the following letter combinations: ch, sh, ck and th. Young readers will find success by focusing on the comic book-like pages especially designed for them, with carefully selected words and plenty of practice. An experienced reading partner shares the more complex text on the left-hand page that rounds out the story. More practice with each letter combination follows at the end of every story, and supporting material at the beginning and end of the book guides a child's reading partner.

What I love about this book: I love the funny, fast-paced character-driven stories – sure to appeal to elementary-aged readers. I love the problem-solving mentality and kind spirit of helping that shines through in each story. Expressive illustrations help move the plots along, and the format is perfect for sitting close with a child and sharing the magic of story and reading. Learn more at www.tworeadbooks.com.

[Dylan And · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a blessing this book is for children with dyslexia. My son is 11 and we have been working on his reading for years. It’s been a daily struggle. This year has been a breakthrough year and when we received this book to review he was actually thrilled to try it. He loved that I was reading alongside him and that he got the graphic novel side. I loved how it helped reinforce the special sounds that we were currently working on. He got through the first chapter with ease and it gave him great confidence. It is rare for him to be willing to pick up a book on his own but this time he asked me when we could read chapter 2. As a homeschool mom and a former Special Education teacher, I am thrilled that this “Orca Two Read” series was created and I am eager to see the next books in the series. These will be on my shelves for years to come.

[Chinook · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been raving about these books to people online, especially anything about schooling.

They are great. The stories are pretty decent and I like the emphasis on making plans, and that sometimes they fail and have to be rethought.

But mostly I love this concept. The parent reads the left page, the child the right page. The child’s page is comic panels and their words have mostly all been previewed by the parent’s side. It’s a great way to get a decent plot and some phonics blend practice in, without having a high level reading child.

Each story has two workbook pages at the end regarding the blend as well.

We found this in the library, but I may buy a copy so we can use it with both girls.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm greatly impressed with this cleverly written educational book. Too often important books to enhance a student's learning are written in a design as much for the teacher as for the student. Those who should be enjoying as well as learning can find the books more challenging than a fun story. This book takes a fun, lighthearted, attention-getting story that puts it in a format that makes it seem more like reading a comic book for pleasure rather than creatively teaching phonics that will enhance learning that will last a lifetime. Great book!

[Andréa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neat concept. Each spread has a page for a grown-up or more confident reader to read and a page for a beginning reader to read.

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from ALA Virtual 2020.

[Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A phonics book where a parent/teacher/reading partner reads a paragraph, then kids read the comic on the opposite page. It's a really clever way to write a phonics book that's more engaging/has an interesting story while still being very simple for kids to read!

[Christie Kaaland · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not easy to make a book exciting when vocabulary is limited and the intent is learning to read, but this story will encourage young readers to continue to struggle through those tough beginning reader texts.

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

With fun stories, tons of illustrations and animal adventures, this book helps readers with language-based learning difficulties find their way to master some words.

This is a book with a purpose—to help kids with dyslexia and other reading difficulties learn to read. Focusing on words with 'ck', 'sh', 'ch', and 'th', each story presents words with these sounds in a fashion, which should make it easier for these types of readers to learn.

The book starts out with a foreword, addressing how each story is to be read. The four stories are based on a two-reader system, with the adult/buddy reader taking the left side of the page (which holds heavier text and words), leaving the fun, graphic novel form on the right side for the child to read. Both sides have the focused on words in large, black font. The spacing of the words, coloring and such take a form, which is centered around making reading easier for kids with these difficulties. Each story is divided into chapters, making it simple to do the reading in small sections. At the end of each story, are several activities, which help readers to revisit the words and work with them. At the end of the book, there is more information surrounding the methodology and useage of this system.

As to the stories, they center around a brother and sister (Meg and Greg), who come across as very natural kids. They run across various animals, are always helpful, and run into some sticky situations...all which are gentle in nature while still holding a little bit of excitement. There's even a smidgen of humor built in, which creates an enjoyable read. There are twists and turns, which make it hard to guess where the tale is headed, and this also guarantees that readers will be curious enough to want to read the stories to the end.

The graphic novel like set-up is something I can only give a thumbs-up to. This form is very popular among young readers and allows the idea of reading a story come across more gently, than chucking a book at these kids. The illustrations support the text and keep it broken up enough to steer clear of becoming overwhelming. And the two-reader system insures that kids don't have to tackle this alone.

Summed up, this is a lovely way to approach young readers with reading problems without scaring them off. It offers support, fun, and practice with a duo, which readers are sure to connect to. And those who love animals are going to enjoy this one even more.

I received an ARC and was surprised at how well this is done.