Book Review: Reading is for Idjits! by W. W. Rowe

This has great illustrations and a well meaning message; but I have some cautionary concerns.
Reading is for Idjits!
by W. W. Rowe (Author), Charles A Filius (Illustrator)

File Size: 18529 KB
Print Length: 98 pages
Publisher: Charwood Publications (May 26, 2016)
ASIN: B01G87KU0S
Genre: Children
My Rating 3.5 of 5.0

Martin and Morton are identical twins! Which one is which? "Smarty Marty" loves to read. "Morton the Moron" hates it. "Reading is for idjits!" he declares. But Morton's faulty reading gets him into BIG trouble. His entire world falls apart! After a series of humorous disasters, Morton finally learns to read. He even saves the day with his new skill!

Review:
This quick story tells how Morton gets into trouble repeatedly when he misreads signs. The mistakes are funny until they start getting Morton injured. Ultimately his misreading leads to a very dangerous event, at which point his mother punishes him until he learns to read properly.  Finally he learns to love reading too.

I really enjoyed the fun illustrations in this book which are much more creative than the cover might suggest. But the cover did get my attention to look at the rest. 

I had some concerns about calling any child a "moron" as I totally discourage name calling. There are additional negatives, including the "idjit" phrase of course. I am also pretty doubtful that punishing a child to make them read will make them like or enjoy reading. I learned with an oppositional child that it is better to find reward structures than punishing structures.

As humorous as the story is and as cute as the pictures are, the more I thought about reading this with a reluctant reader the more I wondered if it would work. Making reading fun is the goal... and this book does make it fun so it might be worth a try with the right child and an adult to discourage the negatives of name calling.

I received this book through NetGalley. It helped to complete my NetGalley Challenge for 2016.