This book could be read to help introduce a social studies lesson because of the locations she visits in her travel. The precocious, purple-haired traveler spends the day playing with her dad as she pretends everyday things (like the sandbox) are extraordinary places. Isabella ends the day in her own home-sweet-home. Age Range: 4 - 8 years
Grade Level: 3 and up

Isabella: Girl on the Go is about an imaginative and energetic girl who is helping her father complete various tasks in the backyard. For each task that she is assigned to help with her dad, she creates an alternate universe in which she is in a profession that excels in that respective field. She goes on to become an archaeologist discovering lost tombs in her sandbox to an Asian warrior defending her people by building a large fence. In the end she remarks that her home is her favorite place to be in and that she can't wait to see where she will end up tomorrow. The emphasis on imagination is apparent in this book and can help spur children's own imaginations by reassuring them that it's okay to pretend. The nature of the text in this book is structured oriented and predictable in nature. The same template is used throughout the story making it easier for kids to follow. A good follow up activity for this book is to let children create their own imaginative setting where they are in an adult profession via story boards or creative writing time. ( )

Young Reader Reaction: Initially, my daughter was initially extremely excited about this book. We have the original story - My Name is Not Isabella - which she loves. She was engaged reading it the first time but said she didn't like it. We read it several more times but she never changed her mind.

Adult Reader Reaction: I did not like this book. I love the original and have actually given it as gifts to friends. This one doesn't flow well. It is choppy and the themes don't really go together. It had a high standard to live up to and it did not come close.

Pros: In introducing her various selves, Isabella showcases things / career fields that have changed the world. Sharing this book could introduce children to those places.

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This book is about a little girl who imagines herself going on great adventures where she becomes things like an archeologist, a queen, an astronomer etc. I liked this book, but I would not necessarily read it again or recommend it to anyone, because it didn’t contain any main ideas that were original or stood out to me. I did however like the illustrations, because they show what the different professionals or characters that she becomes on each page, and what they relate to in the world (country, activities, etc). It was smart for the author to bold key words in the text that related to the thing that Isabella was imagining she became. An example of this was when she imagines that she is an astronomer, and her father says: “well, Isabella, according to my calendar, we don’t have much daylight left.” This allows readers to question why they are bolded/what they have to do with all of the exploring that she’s doing.
I liked how all throughout the day, Isabella’s dad is entertaining her wild imagination, and asking her questions about all of the different things that she pretends to become. I also thought it was interesting how at the back of the book, real pictures and information is presented of the famous places that were covered n the book, like the Eiffel Tower, Pyramids of Giza, and the Great Wall of China. This book focuses on the importance of having a vast imagination and dreaming big. ( )

The main idea of this book is that your dreams can take you anywhere. I liked this book because it it showed isabella visiting a place and at the end of the book it gave a real photograph and information about it. In one section of the book isabella was painting a portrait of the Eiffel tower, and the back of the book gave detail and history about the Eiffel tower as well as the definition of an artist. I also liked that the plot of the book was very predicable; it allowed the reader to try and figure out where she would be visiting next and what type of job she would have. ( )