Written by Judy Young
Illustrated by Dana Sullivan
Published by Sleeping Bear Press, 2015
32 pages
Reviews
Picture Book Depot: “Author Judy Young’s new early reader picture book is called Digger and Daisy Star in a Play, and it has a little something for everybody. In it, Digger and Daisy are preparing for their upcoming roles in the school play. Daisy is thrilled to be playing a princess with a speaking part of a whopping two words. But Digger is not so happy; he is playing a tree, and trees just don’t have speaking parts. This book may be brief but it offers a lot to the emerging reader. Ms. Young’s text is spot-on for ages 5 to 7, and the “easy reader” vocabulary should foster a sense of accomplishment for the newly-independent reader. The story line offers the excitement of preparing for a big performance, the importance of practicing for perfection, and the unpredictable havoc—and stomach butterflies–that stage fright can bring. And even though the book has very few words, Ms. Young manages to do two things: she builds tension and suspense by pitting readers against the unknown (in this case, the “unknown” is whether poor Daisy will remember her whopping two lines), and she keeps readers smiling to the end of the book.”
