Choo Choo Clickety Clack - Margaret Mayo

- The book - I bought this book as in the Early Years, one of the topics is 'Transport' and since the subject matter of the book is based on this theme, it was ideal! Although a fiction book, there isn't a story line to the book as such. It looks at lots of different forms of transport and not just the obvious trains and cars. This is one of the positives of the book as it introduces children to a wide range of different forms of transport such as sailing boats, hot-air balloons, cable cars, motorbikes, ferryboats etc.. Each form of transport is introduced on a double page spread, beginning with trains: 'Trains are great at speed, ...  Read the complete review

This book is written by Margaret Mayo and illustrated by Alex Ayliffe. It was first published in 2004 by Orchard books. When I saw this book at my local library I didn't hesitate to bring it home because we already have one of Mayo's other stories and it's fantastic so I thought this one would be the same. The book is all about different vehicles. It doesn't tell a story as such it just explains what each vehicle does and what noise it makes. The vehicles range from the more common like the trusty car to the less frequently seen like the hot air balloon. The illustrations in this book are very appealing. They are nice and bright and ...  Read the complete review

This is one of those rare children's books where the illustrations (by Alex Aycliffe) are just as intriguing and attention grabbing as the words (Margaret Mayo). Through 12 double pages of brightly coloured pictures and ideal bed-time lengthed 4-lined prose, the child is introduced to 11 different means of transport from the car, to the train, to a rather more obscure cable car. This is a rather unusual children's book as in there is not a main character; people feature heavily in the pictures as they use the different vehicles, but the book is about transport in general. Each page starts with whatever vehicle covered and then describes them - eg ...  Read the complete review

This is an odd book for kids in that it really isn't a story. It's more a book about different types of vehicle, and as such has no coherent narrative. Sure, there are lots of books like that, but it isn't clear from the cover, so don't make the mistake of getting it confused with something it isn't. The different types of vehicle covered range from planes and trains to hot air balloons, and each is covered with nice pictures. The illustrations are quite unique. As you can see from the cover, they're done in a sort of block formation which is quite different and I personally like it. The text varies in pagination, sometimes incorporated ...  Read the complete review