Road Work Ahead

by Anastasia Suen, Jannie Ho (Illustrator)

Overview

When a family sets out on a trip to Grandma's, their journey proves to be more like a visit to a construction site. Sidewalks are being poured, streetlights repaired, roads resurfaced. The noise of jackhammers, whistles, and horns fills the air. Boys and girls alike will love seeing the big machines at work. Anastasia Suen's simple text and Jannie Ho's bright, up-beat pictures make this one road trip to remember.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101648711
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	09/15/2011
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	33
Sales rank:	704,098
File size:	18 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

A lifelong reader, Anastasia Suen wrote her first book at age eleven and she hasn't stopped reading or writing since. The author of 250 books for children, teens, and adults, she has written board books, picture books, beginning readers, chapter books, middle grade, young adult, and professional books for adults, including dozens of books ghostwritten for Big 5 publishers and independents. Her fascination with books led to a career in education where she taught kindergarten to college and worked as children's literature consultant writing and editing books and curriculum. Suen blogs about new books and mentors children's book writers at ASuen.com.

Editorial Reviews

A batch of Grandma's homemade oatmeal cookies beckons, but for this backseat narrator, the sights and sounds along the road to her house are equally compelling: "Road work ahead./ Move over. Go slow./ Jackhammers crack./ Look at them go." Indeed, the boy and his mother seem to have taken a detour through a suburban Busytown: nearly every possible construction or municipal maintenance crew is on the job (the police have even snagged a black-masked bad guy). Suen's (Red Light, Green Light) ultrashort verse leaves Ho (The Great Reindeer Rebellion) plenty of room to fill the page with work activity, cute animals, and visual jokes; one spread largely devoted to a crew installing a new telephone pole also introduces a crafty, escaped pet chicken that readers can follow for the remaining pages. There are comparatively few women on the job, and hardcore aficionados of construction books may find the illustrations cartoonish (would a veteran crew really have trouble wrangling an industrial hose?). But for general audiences, the cheeriness and level of detail should be more than sufficient. Ages 3–5. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Would that every car ride were as entertaining-truck lovers are sure to ask to drive this route again and again." - Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2011

"The cheery cartoon illustrations will be stimulating for young children..." - Booklist, September 15, 2011

"The simple phrases and rhymes provide the perfect read-aloud for lap-sits or storyhours with children who love construction or transportation themes." - School Library Journal, October 1, 2011

From the Publisher

"The cheery cartoon illustrations will be stimulating for young children..."

September 15 Booklist

"The cheery cartoon illustrations will be stimulating for young children..."

Booklist

PreS-K—This delightful story follows a little boy and his mom as they head out for Grandma's house. The journey takes a bit of a detour when they are delayed because of construction work around the city. Vibrant spreads depict crews working on roads, streetlights, and water mains; drilling holes; and putting up poles. Even the family dog, along for the ride, takes in the sights. The cheerful illustrations enhance the smooth, rhyming text. They are full of detail and hum with activity (a family of ducks and a whimsical rooster appear throughout). The simple phrases and rhymes provide the perfect read-aloud for lap-sits or storyhours with children who love construction or transportation themes.—Melissa Smith, Royal Oak Public Library, MI

School Library Journal

On the car ride to visit Grandma, a young boy is delighted to see many trucks and construction workers doing their jobs.

As they wind through towns, down country roads and along the highway, they see construction crews doing all sorts of jobs, from jackhammering roads and pruning trees to changing streetlamp bulbs and fixing water pipes. As his unflappable mother drives (smile pasted on her face), the lucky boy even gets to watch as they put up telephone poles: "Left lane closed / for drilling holes. // Watch out now, / they're putting up poles." Ho's brightly colored artwork is tailor-made for her audience. While her scenes are visually packed with people, vehicles and activity, all are rendered with basic shapes and colors and lack the distracting details that would overwhelm young children. Suen's sparse rhyming verse leads readers through the busy scenes and uses simple vocabulary that suits both the youngest listeners and those just beginning to read. Throughout, kids can pick out funny things "hidden" within the pictures—people and animals that make repeated appearances. And while the focus may be on construction trucks, many community vehicles are in evidence as well.

Would that every car ride were as entertaining—truck lovers are sure to ask to drive this route again and again. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews