Let's Get Ready For Kindergarten!

Linda Desimowich and Stacey Kannenberg
Cedar Valley Publishing (2004)
ISBN 1-933476-00-1
Reviewed by Tammy Petty Conrad for Reader Views (3/06)

Two moms, Linda Desimowich and Stacey Kannenberg, took matters into their own hands when they couldn’t find a satisfactory book to prepare their own children for Kindergarten. They worked with other parents and teachers, even their own children, to develop a tool that others could use to get ready for a child’s first year of school. What they got was a fun book that little ones will enjoy carrying around and writing on with dry erase markers.

The two friends were inspired by Oprah’s Big Dream Contest to come up with an interactive book. Parents can have fun reading with their children and encourage improvements without making them feel like it is work. Inside the front cover is a quick list of fifteen skills children should master before Kindergarten. Each concept is introduced with interactive questions in the remaining pages. The back cover includes helpful tips for parents and caregivers, highlighting how kids need ten to twelve hours of sleep. Having watched a child nap in class when I volunteered at the local elementary school, I heartily second this!

Expected areas such as the alphabet and numbers are covered, as well as others we might forget like knowing the home phone number and parts of the calendar. High frequency words are introduced as are the concepts of rhyming and classification, even coins and their values.

Ten percent of the profits from “Let’s Get Ready For Kindergarten!”, in its third printing, are given to literacy programs and the pair works to get books donated to schools. They have just completed “Let’s Get Ready for First Grade!” and hope to continue with the series through the elementary years.

“…we wanted something where children are learning without realizing it,” Kannenberg explains. The bright colors accomplish that along with pictures of a cheerful teacher and multi-cultural classroom students. When looking at existing books, Desimowich said, “We didn’t see anything that was concise...fun.” Mission accomplished!

I would recommend this to anyone who cares for young children and believes in the power of education. Using “Let’s Get Ready For Kindergarten!” before school starts increases a child’s chance of success and his or her level of happiness in school. Who wouldn’t want that?

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