*Picture book, contemporary, for preschoolers through 2nd graders
*Dan, the Taxi Man and a band as main characters
*Rating: Dan, the Taxi Man (Publisher: Kane Miller) follows a classic children’s book form that I happen to love. There’s sound effects that are easy to read aloud AND there’s repeating text. Think The House that Jack Built crossed with Charlie Parker Played Be Bop.
Short, short summary:
Dan, the Taxi Man is picking up the band. Beep! Beep! He picks up Maureen with her tambourine. Shake-a shake, crash! Shake-a shake, crash! Next comes. . .Tyrone with his saxophone. Squeeba-dee dee, squeeba-dee doo! And so on. Once the entire band is in the taxi, Dan delivers them to their gig on time. But something is missing from a stellar performance. Find out what it is in this cute picture book.
So, what do I do with this book?
1. Dan, the Taxi Man begs to be read out loud! Once Dan picks up a musician, that person’s instrument sound is repeated on each page. So, children can repeat the sound with the reader. If you have a large classroom, you can have children divided into groups, and each group can be a different instrument. Have fun reading this book aloud.
2. Before reading the ending to children, ask them to predict what is missing from the band’s performance. Ask children to explain their prediction based on the text or other books they have read.
3. If possible, bring in real instruments or real musicians and have them play the instruments that are mentioned in the story. This is actually a great book for a music teacher to use with young children!
When I taught remedial reading to second graders in Boonville, Missouri, I loved the week we spent reading this book. Some of the kids had heard it read to them before by kindergarten or first grade teachers or librarians, but many of them were experiencing it for the first time. They LOVED when the monkeys stole the caps from the peddler and how cheap the caps were! After all, this was published in 1938–prices have risen since then.
One of the best things about this book is how easy it is to read once children do a book walk and a read through because the pictures can help with the more difficult words AND there’s plenty of repeatable text. Struggling and beginning readers need fun books like Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina to gain confidence and find enjoyment in reading. After all, reading attitude is at least half the battle.
We used to do a lot of activities in my remedial reading class with Caps for Sale. I would have students sequence the events using pre-made sentence strips that I photocopied and they cut out. Another fun activity was for students to act out the peddler’s and monkeys’ story while one or two other students read the text. Finally, we made advertisements for the peddler’s caps, so he didn’t have to go out, peddle, get so tired, and take a nap. Fun activities that work on writing and reading skills plus a great timeless book equals great reading lessons!
Do you remember reading Caps for Sale as a child? Anyone have an old, old, old copy (as in pre-Reading Rainbow) lying around?
**There’s still time to win one of Clara Gillow Clark’s Hattie books (middle grade historical fiction) by leaving a comment on Tuesday’s post. Contest ends at 8:00 pm CST today!**
