I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track
PreSchool-Grade 1–When Switchman Jack sees a black ant strolling down the railroad track in search of a snack, he tries to reroute a 10-ton freight train. However, the switch is stuck, and, just when readers start to worry that there will be an ant-astrophe, the tale takes a turn: that ant.../made a beeline for my brown lunch sack/as the train whooshed by, screaming.../CLICKETY-CLACK! The story builds effectively to a screeching crescendo, but some of the vocabulary, such as ruin to wrack, might stump children. The big, bold color caricatures have a timeless feel, in keeping with the text. Pamintuan uses changing perspectives to draw readers into the plight of the ant as it is confronted by the enormous smoking train. When the ambling insect spies Jack's sandwich on the ground, it gets a determined look in its eye. The folksy rhyme would be most effective as a read-aloud; in the hands of a talented storyteller, the conflict could take on enormous proportions.–Susan E. Murray, Glendale Public Library, AZCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.