Jane and the Kinge (Gold Tales)
By: Jenny Phillips
Illustrated By: Ekaterina Kolesnikova
Publication: The Good and the Beautiful
51 pages
Genre: Children, Picture Book, Christian, Level-1
Source: Own/Personal Library
( Goodreads | The Good and the Beautiful )
Goodreads description--Level 1B: What can you give a king who already has all that money can buy? Perhaps something he does not yet know to treasure. Jane and the King, a beautifully written and illustrated tale, reminds us that it is often the simple joys in life that are the most profound and rewarding—especially when shared with those we love. Join young Jane as she helps a wealthy, discontented king find true happiness in unexpected ways.
Most of the Level-1 readers we have are from publishers like Random House and Scholastics. But we use a homeschool curriculum company called The Good and the Beautiful for a lot of our curriculum. The Good and the Beautiful has its own books written by several authors. Jenny Phillips, the company's creator, writes many of the books herself. And the company emphasizes good and beautiful literature that has strong moral values. I cannot appreciate this more. Most of the "normal" level-1 reader books are about 32 pages long with one or two short sentences per page or opening. Jane and the King is a good bit longer with 51 pages and usually, one or two sentences per opening.
Jane and the King begins with a challenging words page that includes 5 words used in the book that might be a little beyond the child's reading level, but I like that this is included at the beginning of the book so that you can go over these words with your child before they come to them in the book. This way maybe they will already recognize the words and be able to read them from memory already. Or if they get to one of these words while reading and can't sound it out phonetically or remember it, they will at least not be surprised and feel discouraged for not being able to read a challenging word.
Jane and the King is about a king in a far away land who has many possessions. Yet he was still sad. He thought having his subjects bring him a gift would make him happy. Jane lives in the land, and she liked to smile, bake, and sing. She didn't have many possessions and what she had wasn't very nice. But she was very happy. Jane was able to appreciate all the little things around her with joy. Jane struggles with coming up with a gift to give the king. The subjects of the kingdom brought all kinds of gifts to the king. But Jane ended up bringing two gifts. The first gift was a tree and a note from Jane telling the king that the tree actually needs him. She tells him that she will give him his second gift next year. The king goes about cultivating the tree. Over time with his efforts to take care of the tree he slowly began to appreciate the little things. Jane's second gift was teaching the king how to sing. The king grew older and his family grew as well. The king realized the tree was the best gift he had ever been given. Jane's family also grew and she taught her kids to appreciate all of the good gifts that God gives to each one of us.
Jane and the King is a 5-Star level-1 book for sure. (The Good and the Beautiful technically rates this book as a level 1B.) The morals and messages included in this book make this book what it is. We need more companies that focus on the messages we're sending to young kids. I also like that this is longer than a typical level-1 reader so that my son can get accustomed to reading longer books even though there aren't as many words on one page. Jane and the King is broken down into three chapters so your child doesn't have to read the entire book in one sitting. And this helps to get them accustomed to reading "chapter" books. Have you or your child read Jane and the King? What did you think? Let me know!
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