Zoey and Sassafras: Dragons and Marshmallows
- Megan Lee
- Jan 25, 2022
- 2 min read
A free book turns into a book I can't wait to use for small groups. I love adding books to my library whether it is my personal library or the one in my classroom. I stumbled across this book online on this amazing site called FirstBook that helps teachers and schools buy books at a lower price. Lucky for me an amazing colleague of mine was placing an order with money that was gifted to her through a grant. She let me pick out a book or two to add to my own library and I was excited to add a few more beginning chapter books to my library. Zoey and Sassafras stuck out to me because the little girl on the cover looked like some of my students and as we all know there is a huge importance to representation. I strive to have diverse books in my library because it is important to me that my library reflects the world around us. Another reason this book stood out was the adorable little dragon on the cover. I fell in love with fantasy books as a child and to find some early chapter book options for my students who love it as much as I do, made me so excited.
Plot: Zoey is a kind little girl who is full of wonder. She is the daughter of a scientist mother and wants to be like her. So when she finds out she shares a magical gift of seeing magical beasts with her mother she is so excited to learn everything she can. She dives into reading her mother's science notebooks and learning all she can, but her gift gets put to the test when her mother has to go away for a conference and leaves Zoey and her pet cat Sassafras in charge. Suddenly a magical patient arrives at Zoey's barn door. She has to use everything she knows plus what she learns from a few experiments to try and nurse a little dragon back to health.
My Thoughts: I love how this story uses Science vocabulary and shows young readers how the scientific process works. It's a fantastic story that mixes real-life science with the world of fantasy. I love that the little magical scientist is a girl who learns everything she can from her own scientist mother. It's a great book if you have a young reader who is interested in fantasy but also if they have an interest in science at all.
Comments