Review of "Cave Kiddos: A Sunny Day," by Eric Jay Cash

Review of

Cave Kiddos: A Sunny Day, by Eric Jay Cash ISBN 9781523244508

Five out of five stars

This is a very simple book, the spoken dialog consists of two words and the other explanatory text is an additional two words. The context is a group of four cave dwellers living under what appears to be a very hot sun. From the blurb on the back we learn that they are children living in the Paleolithic age.

 The story is the development of the two syllable word “water” as a reference for water. There are many utterances of “wa” until the suffix “ter” is uttered by another character. From that point on, the correct term for the refreshing liquid is “water.”

 Although the story is very simple, it is likely a correct description for the development of two-syllable words. They begin as a fundamental phoneme, but with so few of them available and so many items to describe, the logical next step in the development of words is to put two or more phonemes together. At first the two syllables would be stated as separate words, but eventually they would be combined into one word.

The illustrations are very simple, based on the same repeated background and the reuse of what are almost identical images. The coloration is bright and cheerful with a great deal of contrast, but the colors are not overwhelming.

 This is a good book to read to children that are just beginning the utterance of speech. It would also be good as a lesson to children about how words originated. 

This book was made available for free for review purposes.