Review by Booklist Review
Ten on anything is never a good idea. In this case, 10 animals on a sled in the Arctic become 1 lonely caribou as one by one the riders' exits are described in alliterative action words: Seal spilled out. Hare hopped out. Sheep shot out. The sled gains momentum, while the displaced animals are picked up by a giant snowball, which races alongside the sled. All 10 reach the bottom at the same time in a tame, anticlimactic ending only to leap on for one more run / and a little more fun / in the moonlit land / of the midnight sun. Although it's not the most thrilling ride, children will enjoy the anticipation as each cartoon-style animal is booted off. The counting down as the sled goes along adds to the fun, while descending numbers and action verbs are emphasized with a colored font. Pair with Suzanne Williams' Ten Naughty Little Monkeys (2007) and Tedd Arnold's Five Ugly Monsters (1995) for more countdown fun.--Enos, Randall Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
There were eight on the sled / and the caribou said, / 'It's slicker! Go quicker!'" Ten animal friends squeeze onto a toboggan and start a wild ride down a bumpy hill. Animals fall off one by one until only Caribou is left, and the fun begins again. This wintry variant of "Ten in the Bed" is accompanied by cheerfully silly illustrations. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
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)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
