Book Review: BOB Books – Set 1

The BOB Books, by Bobby Lynn Maslen, is a series for beginning readers originally published in the 1970’s. Unlike other early primers such as the Dick and Jane books, however, these seem as fresh today as when they first appeared.

Part of the reason for this is that the stories are extremely simple. “Mat Sat. Sam Sat,” begins the first of the twelve slim volumes in “Set 1-Beginning Readers.” The story then gives us various permutations of the two of them sitting. Each book in the set introduces a few more sounds, building on those that have gone before. By the time we get to the twelfth volume, we get sentences like “A big cat at the zoo had a bad leg,” but plot is always subordinate to word and sound repetition. This is not a bad thing. My four-year-old is just starting to read words now, and was delighted to tell people “I can read these all by myself!”

The progressive pedagogy is wonderful, although if your child, like mine, is wont to dump out the entire box and pick them up at random, you may want to offer the volumes a few at a time until you’ve been through them together once or twice.

Despite the simplicity of the tales, however, they are surprisingly engaging. My son made me go through the entire set with him in one sitting. Much of this is because of the whimsical line drawings by John R. Maslen, husband of the author. Mat, Sam, Dot, and all of their human and animal friends dance and smile across the pages. Anyone who thinks children’s books need to beep, flash, or sing to hold children’s attention need only try these to learn otherwise.

For same-sex parents, there is another small bonus. The first two volumes, Mat and Sam, show the two characters holding hands, leaning on, and smiling at each other. No, I don’t think they’re supposed to be gay, but it’s easy to put that spin on it if you want to, or at least use the books to show that it’s okay if two boys hold hands. Note however, that Scholastic, the publisher, gets only a mediocre 50 out of 100 on the most recent HRC Corporate Equality Index. They include sexual orientation, but not gender identity and expression, in their anti-discrimination policy. They offer basic health insurance to employees’ same-sex partners, but not extended benefits like dependent coverage, dental insurance, and COBRA, or any benefits related to transgender wellness. They also don’t do any LGBT-related advertising, marketing, or philanthropy.

These are interactive books, not soothing bedtime stories. Be prepared to spend time working through each one with your emerging reader. They are, however, small— all twelve come in a box about 6″ x 6″ x 1 1/2″—making them great to throw in a bag for travel entertainment.

There are four more boxed sets after the first one, and I can see that they’ll make their way into our household over the next few years. If Scholastic expands its benefits to make their company a better, more equal place for all employees, we might even buy them rather than get them from the library.