(Sleep?)over

A HarperCollins I Can Read! Level 1 easy reader, The Berenstain Bears’ Sleepover by Mike and Jan Berenstain is another tale of the beloved Berenstain Bear family’s adventures.  In this story for children ages 4-8 who are just beginning to read, Sister and Brother Bear have a sleepover with some friends, but not much sleep actually occurs, resulting in a sleepy Papa and Mama Bear the next morning.  Published in 2009, this story is told in an accessible manner for beginning readers with short words and lines, a 22-point typeface, and plenty of white space. The brightly-colored illustrations help to communicate the story and will be familiar to fans of the Berenstain Bears series.  One thing of note, while the word and line length in this book are not excessive for this beginning reading stage, the sentence length is at times a tad long, with sentences frequently composed of 10 words or more, and there are several lines on each page.  The sentences are simple and declarative, so the complexity should not be prohibitive, but they are longer and more plentiful than sentences found in other I Can Read Level 1 easy readers, a fact for caretakers to be aware of if recommending this book to be read independently by readers truly just beginning to read.  Being too excited to sleep is surely an experience that both children and adults can relate to, making this story a fun read-aloud or an enjoyable book for a child to read on her own.