Tip and Tucker Road Trip

Meet Tip and Tucker! These hamsters are best friends and like to stick together. But while little Tip is sometimes nervous about new situations, Tucker likes to explore and see new things. Everything changes when Mr. Lopez purchases them from the pet store. As Tip and Tucker take a road trip, they wonder what their new home will be like. Mr. Lopez says it will be noisy and fun. What is school? In playful, simple stories written especially for the K-1 audience, Tip and Tucker will help beginning readers explore new feelings and learn to navigate classroom dynamics and relationships.

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Interest Level Kindergarten - Grade 2
Reading Level Grade 1
Dewey E
Lexile 270L
ATOS Reading Level
Guided Reading Level
Language English
Publisher Sleeping Bear Press
Available Formats Hardcover (9781534110069), Paperback (9781534110076), PDF (9781534138391), Hosted ebook (9781534138537)
Copyright 2019
Number of Pages 32
Dimensions 6 x 9
Graphics Full-color illustrations

Kirkus reviews - Tip and Tucker Road Trip

This beginning reader introduces children to two hamsters with quite different personalities. Part of the I Am A Reader line, this first outing for Tip and Tucker opens in a pet shop, where Mr. Lopez has come to purchase a pet. Tucker, a larger tan hamster, is excited and tries to get Tip, a smaller gray-and-white hamster, interested. But Tip is the opposite of curious, adventurous Tucker, and he hides in his plastic igloo. Mr. Lopez purchases both hamsters, some food, and a cage. Tip gets even more nervous when the man tells Rosa (whether proprietor or clerk is unclear) that the hamsters’ new home will be noisy; he doesn’t like noisy. The trip to the car is bumpy, and the car ride is more of the same. But Tucker likes the look of their new home: It’s got blocks, jump ropes, balls, and lots of books. Mr. Lopez’s parting words raise more questions for the two—"See you tomorrow. Your first day of school!"—and set up the sequel. Short sentences in a fairly large font and repetition help make the text of this rather bland plot manageable for confident beginning readers, while Ceolin’s adorable illustrations give children clues and nicely show the contrast between nervous Tip and reassuring Tucker. Mr. Lopez and Rosa are probably both Latinx; he with light skin and glasses and she with brown skin. Tip and Tucker are not Elephant and Piggie, but they’re cute and provide good practice for new readers.

Tip & Tucker: Road Trip - Activity Page

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Author: Ann Ingalls

Ann Ingalls’s children’s books include J Is for Jazz and Biggety Bat: Hot Diggety! Ann and her students enjoyed many classroom pets: rabbits, hamsters, gerbils, canaries, salamanders, firebelly toads, and what seemed like millions of fish.

Author: Sue Lowell Gallion

Sue Lowell Gallion is the author of Pug Meets Pig and Pug & Pig Trick-or-Treat, which was inspired by her dog. Sue and Ann write stories together at their favorite Kansas City bagel shop.

Illustrator: André Ceolin

André Ceolin is a self-taught illustrator from Brazil, who started sketching when he was a child. By that time, he loved to draw on the reams of paper his father used to bring home from work. André worked in advertising and in the pharmaceutical field for several years, but as a young father he was drawn to the color and spontaneity of the art in children’s books. He has now illustrated more than thirty books. To know more about him and his work, visit andreceolin.com.

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Full-color illustrations