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Parents' Guide to

Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways

By Carrie R. Wheadon, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 4+

Seuss Award winner is great fun for early readers.

Book Laura McGee Kvasnosky For Beginning Readers 2006
Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Community Reviews

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age 4+

Based on 3 parent reviews

avid reader and mom
avid reader and mom Adult
December 3, 2009
age 4+

FUN and FUNNY

Funny and true to life -- i think sisters may see each other in these stories.
Leenah
Leenah Adult
October 1, 2009
age 4+
It's a good set of stories.
See all 3 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Three chapters -- The Runaways, The Time Capsule, and The Secret Concoction -- feature young fox sisters Zelda and Ivy. In The Runaways, Zelda and Ivy escape eating cucumber sandwiches by packing a suitcase and running away to their backyard. In The Time Capsule, the girls bury a couple of their favorite things for future children, then realize they miss them. In The Secret Concoction, Zelda can't think of a haiku poem to write her grandmother, so Ivy makes "creative juice" to help Zelda along. A very different creative idea results.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (3 ):
Kids say: Not yet rated

Just like any good Seuss book, Theodor Seuss Geisel Award winner ZELDA AND IVY: THE RUNAWAYS dives right into the fun stuff and keeps kids reading. Author Laura Kvasnosky's illustrations are friendly and colorful and reward young readers after only a few sentences of hard pronunciation work. She makes simple fox features surprisingly expressive. Kids will be challenged here and there with words like "haiku" and a blanket edge described as having "pussy-willow puffs," so this probably isn't a book kids will toss aside after one reading. Happily, the way the stories are presented will make them more up for the challenge.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the sisters and their big ideas. Why did they pretend to run away? When Zelda's book gets creative juice on it, what does she do with it?

Book Details

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