Write a Review Wednesday: Ten on the Sled

Welcome to another Write a Review Wednesday, a meme started by Tara Lazar as a way to show support to authors of kids literature. Last week we reviewed Snappy Builder Nativity. This week, keeping in the Christmas or at least the winter mood, we review Sterling Publishing’s Ten on the Sled (age 3+) by Kim Norman and illustrated by Liza Woodruff. I have to thank Derry at Sterling Publishing for my review copy.

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One wintry night reindeer decides to go for a toboggan ride and soon nine other friends join in, all riding on the sled together. But as they twist and turn down the hill, one-by-one the friends fall off the sled until moose is racing a snowball of friends down the hill.

Ten on the Sled is best read, or in our case sung, to the tune of ten in the bed and the little one said, rollover, rollover. You’ll probably find, as I did when reading it to my kids, that you’ll catch yourself singing the book without realizing it. The story was fun and rhythmic to read for both myself and the kids. All 3 of my kids, including my 8-year old loved the story. My 4 and 6-year old loved the pictures of the friends falling off the sled. Each page they looked for the growing snowball of friends that rolled down the hill in the background. I must admit I didn’t notice this at first; my kids pointed it out to me. My 8-year old enjoying singing the rhyme along with me. I actually enjoyed the writing of Ten on the Sled more than the original rhyme because of the varied words; it didn’t just repeat the same words in each stanza.

As the sled got lighter with less friends, it also got faster and you could feel that looking at the illustrations. We read the story faster and faster too which made my kids laugh even more. Ten on the Sled was a quick story but we all enjoyed it so much we read, or rather, sang it two more times that night. This is a nice winter story but also a great counting book. The story goes from ten down to one and was a great exercise in remembering the numbers in reverse order.

You can add a copy of Ten on the Sled to your own personal library by visiting your local bookstore or Sterling Publishing. For other great book ideas for kids, take a read through the past Write a Review Wednesday posts.