Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Marin and John Archambault, Illustrated by Lois Ehlert (Ages 2-6)

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Marin and John Archambault, Illustrated by Lois Ehlert (Ages 2-6)

Martin, B. Archambault, J. (1989). Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Genre: Alphabet Picture Book

This is an alphabet book where all the letters are racing to the top of the coconut tree. Throughout the book there is pictures of the letters, and great rhyming. All the letters try to fit in the coconut tree, but: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!

Language growth and development in this age range are beginning to make more complex sentences with more descriptive words. This book uses words to create rhyme in the text that could help students develop a greater wealth of word knowledge and descriptors. Their vocabularies are increasing and are beginning to enjoy sound and rhyming. This book uses rhyme throughout which allows students the opportunity to listen and even say the words themselves.

Cognitively students are beginning to understand how things go together and how they can be arranged in a space. In the book there is too many letters for the tree to hold, students will begin to see a little bit about special relations, and understanding why they did not all fit in the coconut tree.

Alphabet books are useful to help students learn and identify letters and sounds of the alphabet. This book uses rhyming words to describe each letter and repeats letters throughout the book, in order of the alphabet, which is important for early development of alphabet concept.

Mini Lesson- This book could be used for development of descriptive words in lower grades as well as used in an alphabet unit. Students could then create their own coconut tree to use when reading the story to find the letters and put them in a tree while being read to, reinforcing letter-name knowledge.

Enjoyment- This book is geared towards students age 2-6.