Ten on the Sled

by Kim Norman, Liza Woodruff (Illustrator)

Overview

A favorite childrens song ("Ten on the Bed") gets a delightfully slippery, slide-y twist! In the land of the midnight sun, all the animals are having fun speeding down the hill on Caribous sled. But as they go faster and faster, Seal, Hare, Walrus, and the others all fall off . . . until just the caribous left, only and lonely. Now, a reindeer likes flying-but never alone, so . . . all the animals leap onto the sled again! This beloved story is new in board and abridged for a preschool audience, and its ideal for reading, counting, and singing along with, over and over.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454911913
Publisher:	Union Square Kids
Publication date:	10/07/2014
Pages:	24
Sales rank:	319,793
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 3 Years

About the Author

Kim Norman has been a singer, comedic actress, and author of several books for young readers, including Crocodaddy and If Its Snowy and You Know It, Clap Your Paws! (both Sterling). She lives in Smithfield, VA. Learn more about her at kimnormanbooks.com.
 
Liza Woodruff has illustrated many childrens books, including If Its Snowy and You Know It Clap Your Paws! (Sterling) and How About a Kiss from Me? (Dutton). She lives in northern VT with her husband Tom and their two children. Learn more about her at lizawoodruff.com.

Editorial Reviews

PreS-Gr 1—In this counting book, a caribou and his Arctic friends pull a toboggan uphill; with 10 aboard, they speed down the mountain. One by one, they fall off the sled: "Seal spilled out," "hare hopped out," "sheep shot out," and so on. While squirrel, who is wearing a skull-and-crossbones hat, squeezes out of polar bear's paws onto a pine-tree branch and almost gets struck by a zooming pinecone. All those wipeouts create a big snowball made of the various animals, and the race is on. Will it be the snowball or the sled that reaches the bottom first? Part of the fun of sledding is to trudge back up the hill to do it again, and that is what happens. The comic-style illustrations in watercolor have hints of pastel and colored pencil, especially in the sky, which gives the landscape a winter warmth while the characters themselves exhibit a playful, cheery spirit. Colored typeface for each number from ten to one adds to the page design, and alliteration plays a part in the rhyming pattern. A light read for libraries with a high demand for winter-themed books.—Sara Lissa Paulson, American Sign Language and English Lower School PS 347, New York City

School Library Journal

A caribou, polar bear, moose, wolf, walrus, squirrel, bighorn sheep, fox, hare and seal all pile onto a toboggan, beginning a North Country riff on the familiar chant: "There were TEN on the sled / and the caribou said, / 'Slip over! Slide over!' / So they all slid over, / and Seal spilled out." One by one, the animals tumble off, each with a different active verb (Hare hops out, Sheep shoots out, Walrus whirls out, etc.). The final line of each stanza is printed with lively disorder, swooping, jumping and sliding on the page. Woodruff adds extra humor by collecting all of the fallen animals in an increasingly bigger snowball that rolls down the hill alongside the toboggan. What with animal identification, counting, vocabulary building and print awareness all scaffolded on a can't-lose rhyme, this one's a keeper. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews