
Hey Mr. Choo-Choo, Where Are You Going? by Susan Wickberg, illustrated by Yumi Heo.
Get
ready for a rollicking rhythmic read in this picture book that will
have every small train-crazed boy asking for it to be read again.
Again! And again! You have been warned.
Each new page starts with the chorus of
Hey Mr. Choo-choo,
Red, white, and blue-choo,
Hey Mr. Choo-choo,
And
then asks a question that the rest of the page answers. So it can be
what the train is pulling, where it’s going, etc. And it is all done
with a sense of fun, joy and just pure spunk. You can’t read this book
without smiling (at least for the first five times.)
The
illustrations are wonderful. Big, colorful, friendly and a little
zany. Train enthusiasts will want to name the types of cars, but that
isn’t focused on in the text. It is much more about the rhythm, rhyme
and movement. I encourage you to get the kids doing the chorus with
you each time, though that will naturally happen anyway. Perhaps with
movements?
Recommended for reading to toddlers and preschoolers ages 2-4. Highly recommended as part of a toddler story time on trains. “I’m saying bye-bye-bye with my bell-bell-bell!”