Preschool to the Rescue - Hardcover

Sierra, Judy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0152020357 ISBN 13: 9780152020354

Publisher: Clarion Books, 2001

Synopsis

Look out! There's a sleepy, creepy, deeper-than-you'd-think mud puddle on the preschool playground, and it has swallowed up a pizza van, a fire engine . . . even a tow truck! But don't worry, this group of clever preschoolers knows just how to rescue them!
The talented duo who brought readers the popular Counting Crocodiles and The House That Drac Built have created an irresistible playground adventure.

About this title

About the Authors

Judy Sierra holds a Ph.D. in folklore from UCLA. She is the author of many esteemed children's books, including Nursery Tales Around the World, winner of the Aesop Prize from the American Folklore Society, and Good Night, Dinosaurs. She is also the reteller/compiler of several books of folklore for teachers and storytellers. Ms. Sierra lives in Northern California.

WILL HILLENBRAND has written and illustrated many award-winning picture books, including The House That Drac Built by Judy Sierra and his own Down by the Station. He lives in Terrace Park, Ohio.

Reviews

PreS-K-What a wonderful noisy book this is. Outside of the school is a huge, deep, and hungry mud puddle. Along comes the pizza van, "Beep, beep," and "Slurp"-the truck is stuck. The police car, the tow truck, the backhoe, and finally the fire engine come as rescuers but each one is swallowed up by the growing menace. Out of the school come the preschoolers carrying their shovels and pails and dressed in boots and rain gear. They attack the puddle as only preschoolers can, using up all of the mud and freeing the vehicles. They don't stop until the villain disappears. The cars beep and grind and roar and whistle and howl. The mud puddle slurps and glurps. Readers can virtually hear the trumpets shout as the preschoolers tear out of the school and joyfully set to work. The repetition and rhyme carry the story along and the fun doesn't stop until the book is closed. The artwork is perfect. The pizza truck dances along, bouncing confidently through the rain. The mud puddle lies in wait with a big, ugly, menacing face. Even the font shouts when it should. The animal characters are gleeful. And that just might be a sleeping mud puddle face under the wheelbarrow, waiting for the next rain. Make lots of sounds and have everyone join in the fun-children will love this one.-Marlene Gawron, Orange County Library, Orlando, FL

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

"Once there was a mud puddle," writes Sierra (Antarctic Antics), "and it was sleepy, it was creepy, it was deeper-than-you'd-think. When something went into that mud puddle, the mud puddle didn't want to let go." Hillenbrand (previously paired with Sierra for Counting Crocodiles) portrays the maniacal mud puddle as a grubby Jabba the Hut. Five different vehicles become stuck in the muck, but fear not: the artwork's comical pacing and perspective reveal the vehicles to be toys, and a nearby brave band of animal preschoolers comes to the rescue, outfitted in rain slickers and carrying "shovels and sand, and rocks and bricks, and rubber bands and Popsicle sticks." Gradually, the rain lets up and the sun pokes out. The soft prettiness of Hillenbrand's full-bleed watercolor-and-ink illustrations provides a soothing counterpoint to the menacing mud puddle and to the action's comic frenzy. Youngsters will instantly recognize their own voices, experiences and indefatigable energy in Sierra's narrative. What's more, they should also find the conclusion deeply satisfying: in a feast of unbridled mud-food making, the heroic preschoolers completely consume the rogue puddle. Ages 3-7.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Ages 3-5. When a pizza van gets stuck in a "sleepy, creepy, deeper-than-you'd-think" mud puddle, a police car, tow truck, backhoe, and fire engine attempt to rescue it, only to get stuck ("Glurp . . . blurb") in the mud too. A cadre of animal preschoolers, clad in brightly colored rain gear, then kicks into action, saving the hapless vehicles with "shovels and sand, and rocks and bricks, and rubber bands and Popsicle sticks." In an interesting twist on perspective, close-up views of the cars and trucks suggest that they are real machines in trouble. But, early on, the careful observer will notice (and later on, everyone will realize) that the mud has claimed toy vehicles. The oft-forced internal rhyme, busy colors, and personified mud puddle are distracting elements in an otherwise jaunty cumulative tale; mud and trucks are eminently appealing preschool topics. Amy Brandt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0152020357
• ISBN 13: 9780152020354
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Hillenbrand Will
• Number of pages: 32