Crash, Splash, Hiss! (Usborne Farmyard Tales: Runaway Tractor - Heather Amery)

Member Name: zerub

Product:	Usborne Farmyard Tales: Runaway Tractor - Heather Amery
Date:	29/03/09 (63 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Two levels of reading, good story, ducks to spot

Disadvantages: The overlapping story is sometimes a bit strange

This is one of the stories in the Usborne Farmyard Tales series. If your child likes it, there are dozens more! The first part of this review is about the series, and the second part about the particular book.

--- The series ---
The stories are about two children, their mum who is the farmer, and their dog, and what they get up to on the farm. The stories are short, and exciting (if you are three).

--- Learning to read ---
The clever thing about these stories is that they are written on two levels. At the top of each page is a short sentence, and at the bottom of the page is a couple of longer sentences. You can read the book by reading the top of each page, or the bottom, or both. If you read both there will be a little bit of overlap.

For example, the top of the page says "Dolly pulls and pulls."
And the bottom of the page says "Very slowly the tractor starts to move. Ted pushes as hard as he can and Dolly pulls."

The point is that when your child starts to read, they can read the top of the page fairly easily and so have the pleasure of reading a much-loved story by themselves. Although it is entirely possible that you will have read the story so many times by then that they'll know the words by heart.

--- The pictures ---
The illustrations are quite detailed, so there is a lot to look at. My son pretty much knows the stories so he can sit and examine the pictures, and does so for quite long periods of time.

On each page there is a small duck hiding somewhere - my children take great delight in hunting for and spotting the duck.

--- The format ---
The book has 16 pages which is a good length for a 2-4 year-old's attention span. You can get them in several formats. I like the small ones - 14cm square books. They are small and light, which makes them very easy for a little child to hold and carry around. Most children's picture books are very big (so you can get a lot of good pictures in!) but these are child-sized. They're good for taking on holiday too - plenty of stories but not too much suitcase room.

--- The price ---
It costs £3.99, although I would recommend buying a few in a set and getting them cheaper that way.

--- The Runaway Tractor ---
My sons like this one particularly because it has a tractor in. It also has a crash, always a crowd-pleaser.

Ted is driving the tractor when it careers down the hill, through the fence, and lands in the pond. Poppy and Sam see it happen so they go to get help, and return with a neighbouring farmer and his horse, Dolly. The horse pulls the tractor out of the pond and then the children get a ride home on her.

We especially like the pictures of poor Ted pouring the water out of his boots and wringing out his socks. At the beginning of the story there are lots of exciting noises - the tractor makes a funny noise, Ted shouts, the tractor crashes and the water splashes. There are a lot of nice contrasting words too - Ted paddles and the children run, Ted pushes and Dolly pulls, the tractor jerks and Ted falls over.

It finishes with the children and the farmer riding home and poor Ted having to walk because he is so muddy. I try to persuade my children to be sympathetic but they prefer to laugh at him!

Summary: You can't fail with a tractor story