COCO GETS HER FIRST COMPUTER (COCO'S LIFE ADVENTURES BOOKS)
by Shon Shree Lewis ; illustrated by C. Lola
A young girl gets a computer to help her develop math skills in this fourth installment of a picture-book series.
Coco, an early elementary schooler with warm brown skin and black hair, loves toys that light up but dislikes math. The size of coins versus their values confuses her. When she gets an assignment wrong at school, she’s unhappy. She wants a cash register so she can count money like a worker at a drive-through. Instead, her parents get her a computer. Now, she can practice math using a tutorial to help her learn. Lewis’ accessible story starring an appealing hero features short, direct sentences, with only a few challenging vocabulary words for emergent readers (calculate, cashier). Lola’s digital cartoon illustrations are repetitive, frequently using the same facial expressions and postures. And when Coco smiles to show her teeth in the simple, flat drawings, the otherwise cheerful girl sports a creepy expression. An aside in which Coco tells her dog, Chico, she will pray for a computer “the same way she prayed for Chico the previous Christmas” seems to conflate religious faith with materialistic wishes. Still, this energetic story is likely to please fans of Coco’s adventures.
A lively but uneven computer tale.