Bug on the Rug

by Sophia Gholz, Susan Batori (Illustrator)

Overview

Pug is snug on his rug. But what happens when along comes BUG?! With a claim to the rug?! The two engage in a hysterical, rhyming battle of wits and strength until Slug asks the necessary questions and helps them find common ground. Rhyming is an important developmental reading skill. It teaches phonics (decodable text) and helps young readers infer content. This is a fun story to build those skills—and is an epic read aloud!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534111479
Publisher:	Sleeping Bear Press
Publication date:	04/15/2022
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	472,074
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	450L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 6 Years

Editorial Reviews

2022-04-13
A snug pug attempts to pull the plug on a rug-smuggling bug.

A smug bug usurps Pug’s rug, desiring to make it his own. Bug quickly dispatches Pug and settles on said rug, thinking all’s well—but his clever ruse backfires when Pug soon returns, furious at his ouster. Along comes…another character whose name, fittingly, sounds like that of our two protagonists. A rhyming war of words erupts between Pug and Bug—but (spoiler alert) Slug arbitrates and helps the sparring duo understand each other and offer apologies. All agree that nothing’s so snug as friendship and happily share the rug. In a final twist, a surprise visitor, whose name doesn’t rhyme with the others’, arrives and is welcomed warily. This is a pleasing, comical story about finding common ground, owning mistakes, and accepting differences. Readers will enjoy the hilarious proceedings conveyed through jaunty rhymes that scan well and the characters’ expressive mugging. Rhyming words and opportunities for rich vocabulary development are real draws. Kids will appreciate the smoothly delivered ways –ug words, as well as other common phonemic patterns, are used (aghast/fast; growls/howls/scowls, small/tall, stick/quick). The dynamic, energetic illustrations are attention-grabbers, as are occasional onomatopoeic words set in larger colored fonts. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Lively fun that all readers will enjoy, snug in their own rugs and everywhere else. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews