This fictional book tells a story about a young boy named Thomas Mead. He didn't know how to read and didn't care to learn how to read. Thomas didn't know why reading was so important. In the book, he encounters many hurdles that try to teach him that reading is good for him. For example, he didn't know how to read the construction signs and had wet paint dropped all over his head, turning his hair purple. As he ran to the nearest store to use their bathroom, he pushed the door instead of pulled it because he couldn't read the sign. Thomas goes through many struggles as he does not know how to read and ended up in jail. His mother and father told Thomas that if Thomas did not learn how to read, they will not bail him out. So, Thomas' cellmates teach Thomas the basics of reading: the alphabet, go, stop, in, out, push, pull, etc. Thomas learns how to read and never puts a book down again. Reading is good! Not only educationally, but reading bathroom signs and construction signs can be very helpful. The illustrations are very realistic. Within the illustrations, the characters had dialogue bubbles. The text was easy to read because the sentences ended with rhyming words. Thomas runs through funny situations that can really happen to someone, the story line of the book is very literal. ( )

This book is about a boy who can't read, and refuses to learn. He is constantly getting in to trouble wherever he goes because he can not read. Eventually he winds up in jail because and the only way his father will bail him out is if he learns how to read. I would recommend this book to children at the 2nd- 4th grade reading level. It could also be used as a read-aloud book to teach children about the importance of reading. ( )

Thomas Mead didn't know how to read and he kept getting into bad accidents because of this. Finally after upsetting a lot of people and getting in big trouble, Thomas Mead learned how to read. This benefited his life greatly. This teaches students the importance of reading. I think this would be best for first graders ( )