Yo! Yes?

Raschka, C. (1993).  Yo! Yes?.  New York:  Orchard Books.

Age Level: 3-9

Genre:  Realistic Fiction/Picture Book

When I got this out of my school’s library and opened it up to see very few words, I was already excited.  This easy-to-read book uses illustrations and very few words to tell the story of a friendship that develops over a game of basketball.  It is a very short story but the illustrations do a great job showing emotions.  I cannot wait to share this story with my class. 

The illustrations are great and it is imperative that the reader build comprehension based on the interpretations of the text.  The doublespread (see below) pages create a life-like experience and allow the reader to become a part of the story.    

I would absolutely recommend this book and already plan to use it in my classroom!  I feel that children will find this book relevant as many of them have had the same experiences shared in this book. 

Ideas for teaching/comprehension strategies that can be used with this text:  I plan to use this book next year as an introduction to inferring because in this text it is essential that children use their prior knowledge and infer what is happening.  I could also use this text to show how illustrations support the plot. 

Questions to pose:

Why do you think the author used very few words to write this book?

Explain what you think is happening on this page (could select any page of the book)? 

How do you think the two boys feel in this text?  Do their feelings change throughout the story?