This Old Van by Kim Norman, Illustrated by Carolyn Conahan
Copyright 2015
Sterling Children's Books - Picture Book/Counting (Ages 4 - 7)
30 pp.
This old van, she passed TWO,
friendly flaggers wave her through.
With a click clack rattle rack,
tooting at the crew,
this old van says,
"GOOD-BYE, TWO!"
Before I said "yes" to reviewing This Old Van, I already knew I couldn't pass up a book starring a van covered in the old "flower power" and peace-sign design. My hippie soul adores such things (I am, in fact, wearing a peace sign T-shirt as I type). And, I did indeed love the illustrations starring a couple of aging hippies and this crazy van racing across the countryside every bit as much as I expected. But, the bonus is in the rhythm. You can tell from the excerpt above (if you know the song) that the rhythm of the verses in This Old Van is the same as that of the song "This Old Man."
So, I actually sang the entire book to the cats. No, nobody has come to haul me to a room with mattress wallpaper, yet. And, in fact, the cats seemed to enjoy it but not as much as I'm sure my granddaughter will when I send it to her.
Highly recommended - A wildly fun counting book that has friendly, upbeat illustrations with plenty of detail to study, a super rhythm that allows you to sing the book to an old-fashioned tune, and unique things to count. On the page with two friendly flaggers, for example, there are also two dogs, two birds in hard hats, two bulldozers, two goats, two signs warning about falling rocks and two unexpected animals in hard hats. Loads of fun for kids and adults. Grandparents who remember the 60s will appreciate that crazy van.
It's Friday but I wanted to squeeze in a review so you get a combination post, today, including a combination of cats for Fiona Friday. I always love those moments when I find the two kitties squashed up next to each other. It happened two or three times, this week, and I managed to catch the kitties between grooming and playing with their ribbon, on one occasion. It's possible somebody wiggled her fingers to get them to stop looking down.
Happy Friday!
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Sounds like a very cute counting book. We had an old vw van when I was a kid minus the flowers and peace signs. I love when I find my kitties snuggling too.
ReplyDeleteIt's super cute, Jenny. How cool that you had an old VW van! I love those things. But, they do need flowers and peace signs. ;)
DeleteI think I'm doubly touched when my kitties snuggle because our last two hated each other. They'd sleep within about 3 feet of each other, no less. We got excited if they shared the same surface. So, to have two that actually cuddle is just flat awesome.