Road Work Ahead, by Anastasia Suen and Jannie Ho (ages 2 - 6)

I love playing with books, and encouraging children to bring books into their imaginative world. Close your eyes and imagine you're driving to grandma's house. You can just imagine sitting in your car, watching all the buildings and cars pass out your window. What's that you see? A big construction site? Jackhammers hammering? Our ride just got much more fun! I've had a great time sharing Road Work Ahead, and helping kids play with the story. Here's a bit about this story, and a fun art project we did with kindergarteners.

Road Work Ahead
by Anastasia Suen
illustrated by Jannie Ho
NY: Viking / Penguin, 2011
ages 2 - 6
available at your local library and my favorite bookstore

Driving to Grandma's house, a young boy and his mom watch all sorts of road work - jackhammers cracking, workers trimming trees, men putting up tall telephone poles. This picture book for young readers will make you smile, with its cheerful illustrations and fun rhythm and rhyming. The simple rhymes are perfect for preschoolers and kindergartners:

“Road work ahead.
Move over. Go slow.
Jackhammers crack.
Look at them go."

Children love drawing and making their imaginations come alive with their art work. After reading this story with our kindergartners today, we took some time to draw our favorite cars and construction vehicles. The kids loved this chance to draw.

After they drew their pictures, they cut out the vehicles and had a great time playing with their cars. It reminded me of the hours and hours my brothers spent playing with their Hot Wheels. The kids had even more fun, getting to draw and create their very own vehicles first.

For more information about this fun book, check out other stops on the Road Work Ahead blog tour:

Monday 9/19	Fiction Notes	*revising a manuscript*
	EverythingMom	*creating art*
Tuesday 9/20	The Reading Tub	*a literacy connection*
Wednesday 9/21	Great Kid Books	*students creating art*
Thursday 9/22	Imagination Soup	*books and children at play*
Friday 9/23	Check It Out	*students writing poetry*

The review copy of Road Work Ahead was kindly sent by Viking publishers, an imprint of the Penguin Group. For another great book to tap into children's imagination, check out Mitchell's License, by Hallie Durand and Tony Fucile.