Customer Reviews

Grasshopper on the Road (I Can Read Book 2)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...I bought this book for my 7-year-old twins, who arehome-schooled. The book's reading level is appropriate for end offirst grade or beginning of second grade. They LOVED this book!Their favorite story was the Worm story, which STILL sends them intoconvulsions of laughter whenever they hear it. The book has also beenthe basis of discussion about intolerance, moving on the the face ofloss, appeasing others to make them feel good, and other topics. Allin all, the book was absolutely worth the price!

We originally bought this book on the way back from a road trip. My wife was reading as I was driving. My son (5) was watching my wife read it and laughing at her laughing. When we got home, he gave it to all the adults and watched for them to laugh as they read it to him. It is a cute, silly book, with a couple of good lessons. You will know someone who matches every character in this book. Its the best one I've come across so far. Right up there with Dr. Seuss.

I would recommend this book to anyone, both young and old. The grasshopper wants to go on a journey and he finds a road. On this road he encounters many insects different from himself. His meetings are funny and make you want to turn the page to see what he might encounter next. It is easy to read for early readers and is a cute and silly story that makes reading fun.

I love Arnold Lobel's work and have many of his books for my 23 month old daughter. Grasshopper on the Road is more of the same simple, lovable stories you'd expect from Lobel, with one exception: In the first story, "The Club", the grasshopper runs across some beetles who are celebrating morning. When it comes out that grasshopper enjoys the afternoon and evening, too, the beetles turn on him and call him "stupid" and "dummy". I'm keeping the book, but will be covering those words and replacing them with something more suitable to young children. Other than that, the book is great.

I found Grasshopper on the Road to be a witty, slightly subversive story with ample political satire for adults as well as eing a delightful kiddy read. (My daughter is 4.) There's a bit of Animal Farm and Gulliver's Travels built in to the story - coming upon the rally of beetles who cheer Grasshopper on until they realize he doesn't accept their political beliefs - and then proceed to bash him... the Lilliputian mosquito who insists that "rules are rules" and demands to take Grasshopper across a little puddle in his tiny rowboat, while Grasshopper merely lifts up the whole boat and carries mosquito across in two steps... the butterflies who demand that mosquito vacate a particular mushroom on which he is sitting because that's where they take a dailiy rest on that particular one... the housefly with obsessive-compulsive disorder who can't stop cleaning and dusting, and so on. I've enjoyed Lobel's intelligent and ironic stories (including the misadventures of the happily gay couple, Frog & Toad), which kids love and which don't talk down to grown-ups! I'm just sorry that I discovered him as a grown-up myself.

A grasshopper has six different encounters on his journey through the 57 pages of this book. In the first encounter, "The Club," he meets a group of beetles that enthusiastically rally for "morning," but become rather cross when they discover that the grasshopper loves "afternoon" and "night" too. In the second encounter, "A New House," the grasshopper comes upon a worm that lives in an apple, which suddenly begins to "roll down the road" and smashes "into a hundred pieces." The completely unfazed worm then crawls into "a new house," as if the previous home meant nothing at all. In the third encounter, "The Sweeper," the grasshopper runs into a housefly that is intent on sweeping "until the whole world is clean." In the fourth encounter, "The Voyage," the grasshopper comes in contact with a know-it-all mosquito that insists that the grasshopper use a "little boat" to cross a tiny "puddle" that the grasshopper could easily step over because "it is a rule" and "rules are rules." In the fifth encounter, "Always," the grasshopper, who does "something different every day of his life," meets three butterflies who "do the same thing at the same time each and every day." In the final encounter, "At Evening," the grasshopper comes across two dragonflies "zipping and zooming" around so rapidly that they "do not have time to look at" nature's wonders, as opposed to the grasshopper who is "happy to be walking slowly down the road" taking in everything. A child who has learned to read at age four will be able to handle this at age five and six, but will most likely not comprehend the intended satire and allegory.

Reason for Reading: Ds read aloud to me as his reader.

This has always been one of my favourites of Lobel's books! While the whole story is about Grasshopper's journey, each chapter is episodic and tells a humorous tale of someone he meets along the way. These are so silly, they will have you laughing out loud along with your children. Ds enjoyed this one very much. He loves it when something silly or outrageous happens in a story and this kept him giggling. My favourite part is when he meets the beetles who love morning and they let Grasshopper join the club, giving him a sign and a wreath of flowers but as soon as he mentions he likes afternoon and evening as well they kick him out of the club and call him a 'dummy'. Ds's favourite is the story of a mosquito who insists that all must be ferried across the lake in his boat, no matter what. Well, the lake is a puddle and grasshopper won't fit into the boat and could easily hop over 'the lake'. The mosquito won't hear of it though, and grasshopper comes up with a great idea so as not to hurt mosquito's feelings. Since he can't fit in the boat he picks it up and carries it across the 'lake' and mosquito is happy that he has ferried Grasshopper across. Lovely illustrations, of course. A great easy reader that you can't go wrong with.

I always enjoyed this book as a child. I recently pulled it out of some of my things and read it. Reading it as an adult I realize its true meaning and value. It offers real lessons on life, the people you meet along the way and how to gracefully just keep on walking down the road...

It is a funny and easy to read series of stories. All books by Arnold Lobel are written in a very good language and have unconventional plots, so a parent does not get bored and a child enjoys them. Before I discovered Arnold Lobel, I became exasperated with children's books that all seem to follow one of cliche plots. These stories are different from the mainstream children literature, best described as friendly fables for little kids.

We bought this for our children after hearing the stories on the Arnold Lobel Audio Collection. Everyone in the family loves it. The stories are classic Lobel - innocent and wholesome and just what a child needs.