Red Light, Green Light by Anastasia Suen, illustrated by Ken Wilson-Max (Harcourt, 2005). An upbeat and colorful rhyming introduction to traffic for pre-K. Told from the point of view of a young boy playing with an extensive and augmented toy set. Ages 3-up.

My Thoughts

An excellent example of simple, effective rhyme for the very young.

Well grounded in a child’s point of view.

Whimsical in its use of additional objects such as a baseball, stacked books to lift roads, chess pieces, and a disproportionately large rubber duckie (bigger than the trolley). These add extra interest and would be fun to identify one-on-one or in groups.

Engaging with its bright colors and bold design.

Anastasia lives in Plano, Texas, and so I often get to see her at conferences. Visit her blog, Create/Relate.

Cynsational News & Links

Anastasia Suen: Prolific Non-Fiction Writer for Children by Sue Reichard from suite101.com.

Congratulations to my husband, author Greg Leitich Smith, on the rave reviews on his new novel, Tofu and T. rex (Little Brown, 2005), from Publisher’s Weekly (thrilled to see Shohei back!) and School Library Journal, which gushes “will make kids laugh out loud” and is “well written, witty, and funny.”

Book reviews by students and staff at the Indian Teacher & Educational Personnel Program at Humbolt State University.

The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies (Houghton Mifflin, 2004) is the 2005 winner of the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award for Children’s Literature.