Today, I bring you a new book by Anastasia Suen, Road Work Ahead. I am pleased to be part of her new book blog tour. It’s a book in rhyme about a mom, a boy, and a dog driving to Grandmother’s house. Of course, along the way they run into road work and lots of it.
Suen’s simple rhyming text makes the story fun to read rhythmically. Take a peek:
Hello, Grandma, here we come!
You’re making oatmeal cookies? Yum!
Road work ahead.
Move over. Go slow.
Jackhammers crack.
Look at them go.
Jannie Ho’s bold illustrations are well laid out. Playful surprises such as the re-appearing red bird, the lost chicken, and mama duck and her ducklings add to the fun of Road Work Ahead. I read the book to students K, 1 & 3 and their responses demonstrate that this book will not last on the shelves:
From kindergarten:
Addy like the part of the chicken.
Ayo worried that the bunny fell out of the house and that he could hit the bus
Connor noticed road work on every page.
Nicholas said that there animals and workers everywhere.
Abigail liked how th e ducks were crossing the road.
From first grade:
I like when the chicken was at the ice cream truck.- Wyatt
Alexa like the chicken eating the ice cream.
Jaden liked the chicken on a truck like my dad’s truck.
Juanita like that the chicken sneaked onto the ice cream truck.
Alex laughed when the chicken sneaked in for out meal cookies at Grandma’s house.
Morgan thought the two red birds and the one baby bird were just so cute.
From third grade. We looked at the main characters, the problem, setting, and the purpose:
Students agreed that the setting was the house, the road, outside and Grandma’s house.
They identified the boy as the narrator and one of the characters. There was discussion about the chicken being a main character.
The problem was easy for the group: road construction.
My favorite responses were for the purpose of the story:
Michael said that it was to show how to spend time with family and have fun.
Ashlyn said it was to tell readers about how road workers to their.
One unnamed person said it would help later in life to go SLOW and be careful.
Poetry Friday is hosted by Picture Book of the Day. Thanks, Anastasia.
Happy Reading.
MsMac
At any rate I don’t expect this book to sit on the shelf. I highly recommend it for a library for its high interest with readers. And if in an ebook format, I can imagine the APPS to go with it.
Title: Road Work Ahead
Author: Anastasia Suen
Illustrator: Jannie Ho
Date Published: 2011
Pages: unpaged
Reading Level: K-3
Publisher:Viking
ISBN: 978-0-670-01288-6
Source of Book: From the publisher for review
Check It Out 