“Goodbye to Goldie” by Fran Manushkin, Illustrator: Tammie Lyon

May 10, 2010 at 8:00 am · Filed under children's reader and tagged: storiesRfun

Ages:  5-8   Series:  Katie Woo

Fran Manushkin’s new series features Katie Woo, modeled after her great niece.  Katie is an average girl who faces things kids have to face in life, from the everyday to the extraordinary.  In Goodbye to Goldie, Katie goes through the grieving process when her beloved dog dies.  It is an excellent book for children who have recently lost a pet, or for a child who has an old pet to prepare for the death of that pet.  Katie starts off very sad about the loss of Goldie, and cries in her mother’s arms.  Then she begins to remember the good times with her best friend Goldie.  Her human friends tell her stories they remember of the fun they use to have with Goldie and they suggest putting together a scrapbook.  This helps Katie immensely and at the end, Katie says “Goldie, I will always remember you,” which is just what a child who lost a pet needs to hear.

After the story, there is a rather useless glossary (after all, if you are able to read the book independently as suggested, you should know what a computer or a photo is!)  The glossary is followed by discussion questions and writing prompts.  These were good additions to the book with good ideas to extend the story.  The section ‘Having fun with Katie Woo’ details how to make a scrapbook page.  Great fun and another good way to extend the story!

My 5 year old (who reads at the second grade level) likes this series and said of this one “It’s sad because her dog dies, but I like the way they tell stories about her.  It makes Katie happier.”

review by storiesRfun

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