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Book Review: Ivy and Bean Probably Don't Play German Crossing

Wendy Lawrence
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Published on: December 30, 2013

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ivy-and-bean-postI loved my neighborhood friends growing up. With the exception of one or two families, I wasn't really close to that many of them, but that never mattered when it came to baseball or tag. On a long Seattle summer night, when the light stayed up as late as your mom let you, neighborhood friends were always there and ready to play. One of our favorites (and this admittedly sounds ridiculous in 2011) was German Crossing. Yes, one side of the road was East Germany and one was West. You had to cross from one to the other (presumably from East to West although the details of the game escape me) without being tagged by the guard with the flashlight, who wasn't allowed to stray far from his/her post. You could sneak your friends out of jail by sneaking over to the jail near the guard and tagging them. Hours and hours and even nights and nights were spent at this game, sneaking through the neighbors yards, hiding in their bushes, and trying to stay out of their sight if they were one of those "adult" houses with no kids in the game who may or may not understand people sneaking through their yard.

Reading Ivy and Bean — the at-first-reluctant-to-be-friends neighbors — reminded me of that game. But when they finally cross the street and meet, the tomboyishly adventurous Bean and the imaginative bookworm Ivy become fast friends and hilarity ensues. There's even some sneaking around in neighbors' yards. I want to thank my niece because without her recommendation of these books, I might never have found them!

ivy_bean_bookTitle: Ivy and Bean

Author: Annie Barrows

Illustrator:Sophie Blackall

Genre: Early Chapter Book

Age: K-third grade

Follow-up with the kids:

This book is calibrated for kids who are really starting to read on their own. This is a great time to engage them in conversations about books so they get used to thinking about their reading and talking about it while they still have memories of cuddling up with picture books with their family. Ask your daughter (it is probably a daughter reading this book as boys tend to prefer books with boy characters — the same is not necessarily true for girls) if she is more like Ivy or more like Bean. Or does she have elements of both? What about her friends? Getting kids to think about their reading and to relate their reading to their own lives is an important first step to higher level reading comprehension. And also a great step towards really enjoying books!

More posts by Wendy Lawrence:

-Vapid Reading, Vanishing Childhood Heroes, and the Very Cool Sherlock Files

-Autumn Winifred Oliver (and I) Do Things Different

-Natural Parenting if it Kills Me, Aided By The Rhythm of the Family

wendy_lawrence_21Wendy Lawrence is a Seattle native who is now living with her husband and two young sons in Nashville, Tenn. A longtime educator and former middle school head at Eastside Prep in Kirkland, she now blogs about parenting and books at The Family that Reads Together.

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