Wilbur's Book of First Words

I'm always on the look out for books that will engage Abigail (who is 6 and not that fond of books), so I was quite pleased when I found Wilbur's Book of First Words in Emily's man-sized pile of books that she wanted to bring home from the library today.
Wilbur, if you've not met him before belongs to Winnie the Witch, a bit of a hapless witch who lives in a black house. Abigail likes her because she like silly things and that's a very good description of what Winnie gets up to. Silly. Emily quite likes her too, even though the books are a bit long for her, which I guess is why this was in 'the pile' at the library. There are a whole series of Wilbur books but I stuck with the first words as our taking home one as it's one of those books that you can file under 'two birds with one stone'. Emily take it can quite happily on face value with its silly pictures and opposites to look out for; Abigail can use it as a simple independent reader which features characters that she is familiar with. I do find it difficult to engage her with independent reading because her comprehension is far above her reading level. This book gives her the satisfaction of being able to read a Winnie book all by herself; even though it's not a 'whole story' as such, it is definitely more engaging than just a list of words. We all know that a happy reader is one that will read more, so I'm quite sure we'll be working our way through this series. I'm also hoping Emily will use her pester power to get Abigail to read it to her. There's something special about seeing the two of them snuggled up sharing a book.