Clickety Clack (Picture Books) [Hardcover]

Robert Spence (Author), Amy Spence (Author), Margaret Spengler (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up | Series: Picture Books

A train gets noisier and more crowded as quacking ducks, dancing acrobats, talking yaks, and packs of elephants create pure mayhem. But Driver Zach is a very patient man . . . until two pesky little mice climb on board. Full color.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Buoyant and full of childlike fun, this first book for the husband-and-wife authors as well as the illustrator takes a simple premise and goes full steam ahead. Cumulative verse introduces a train's posse of passengers, all of them noisy: "Elephants stomp in two big packs/ And the troupe of ducks goes quack quack quack/ While dancing around the acrobats/ Who sing on the cars with talking yaks,/ And a red caboose is in the back/ Of the little black train going down the track./ Clickety clack, clickety clack." Mayhem threatens when two mischievous mice light fireworks on the roof of the cabooseAbut Driver Zach quickly restores order (and quiet) by telling everyone to "pipe down" or "we'll change our tack./ We'll stop going forward... and we'll head right back." Spengler, having made the most of the passengers' high jinks, brings fun even into the silencing sequence. The ducks hold wings to beaks, as if whispering "Shh!" and the assembly appears just to be biding time until the next uproar (the final scene shows a third prankish mouse scrambling to join the train). The deeply saturated colors recall the intensity of Robert Bender's illustrations, but the lines are looser and the compositions have their own puckish sensibility. Kids will enjoy the good-natured decrescendo just as much as the invitation to turn up the volume. Ages 4-8. (May)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-The Spences build their story around tried-and-true motifs. As "A little black train goes down the track./Clickety clack, clickety clack," more and more passengers are added, ? la John Burningham's Mr. Gumpy's Motorcar (Crowell, 1976), and the noise level increases as well, ? la Ann McGovern's Too Much Noise (Houghton, 1967). The first passengers are talking yaks, who are joined by singing acrobats, quacking ducks, and a few stomping elephants for good measure. When two mice set off fireworks, the engineer has had enough and threatens to turn the train around. Properly chastened, the whole menagerie quiets down and the book trails off with just the "clickety clack" of the wheels. The action is set to a driving rhyme scheme. Spengler's richly hued paintings make the most of the humorous situations. The double-page spreads are crammed with roly-poly characters. The ending is a bit of a downer in that the travelers all look so sad after the engineer yells at them, in marked contrast to the good time they were having.
Judith Gloyer, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile (April 26, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670879460
• ISBN-13: 978-0670879465
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #232,748 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rhythm and Rhyme, January 20, 2002

By 

lspswr (Idaho, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clickety Clack (Picture Books) (Hardcover)

We stumbled upon this book at the California Train Museum in Sacramento about 5 months ago and have been completely entralled with this masterpiece ever since. Not only are the illustrations vibrant and entertaining, the text offers a very special attribute: the rhyme actually has a train rhythm. Pulling out of the station the train clicks along at a slow pace, "The little black train goes down the track. Clickety clack, clickety clack." As the text tells who is on the train (yaks, acrobats, ducks, elephants...) and what they are doing (talking, singing, quacking, stomping...) it builds to a frantic speed until "two mice light fireworks" and give Driver Zach a "headache attack." At that point the "rhythm" of the "train" begins to slow as the passengers calm down and behave themselves and the train settles into an even-paced canter and leaves Driver Zach with a smile on his face. My then pre-2 year old had this book memorized within the first week and still asks for it daily. Another thing we found fun is to read it while whispering -- the rhythm is accentuated when you whisper and my son thinks it is especially funny. I cannot give this book more than 5 stars, unfortunately, but think that one that includes great artwork, catchy rhyming text, and incorporates a train rhythm to boot should be at the top of any train and/or rhythm and rhyme lover's book list.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A definite child pleaser, July 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Clickety Clack (Picture Books) (Hardcover)

My little girl absolutely loves this book. No matter what else may be going on, when asked if she'd like to read a story, she will jump up and start yelling for "Clickety Clack". She love this story so much and the dialog is so easy to understand that she has the book memorized, pretty much word for word. This is a great book, the words work so well with one another and the variety of characters so diverse, there are yacks, ducks, acrobats and mice all of whom manage to drive driver Zack pretty crazy!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So So, April 1, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Clickety Clack (Picture Books) (Hardcover)

I hate to go against most of the other reviews but I wasn't all that excited by this one. My daughters who like trains weren't either.

The illustrations were warm and fun and the rhyming was well done. I guess I really didn't like the story line. It was a bit of a downer. Everyone is having fun on the train and the engineer says he's got a headache and unless everyone is quiet, he'll turn the train around. So by the end the engineer is happy but everyone else looks kind of sad.