Stuck!

thebottomshelf.edublogs.org/2026/07/23/stuck

July 23, 2000

Stuck! (a review by Barbara Braxton)

Robert Vescio / Brendan Barnaville, IP Kidz, 2026

ISBN 9781923435209 32pp., hbk., RRP $A26

Many, many, many sleeps ago at a stick-in-the-mind talk by the magical Mem Fox, she told us that if we want children coming to school with a mastery of the English language, a love of stories and an expectation that they, too, would be able to read and write them, then we should encourage their parents to read them three stories a day – a first-read, a familiar and a favourite.  And that way, because of the special bond created by reader and listener as the child learns that not only are they worthy of the grown-up’s time, and that it will be a fun way to spend a few quiet moments, they would hear at least 1000 stories by the time they are just three, and they will have developed a host of other unseen, undocumented positive behaviours during those few minutes.

So, imagine if the story they heard not only entertained them, and showed them new things to explore in the pictures, but needed their help to keep it moving!!!  Not just joining in a repetitive phrase  or shouting out fun words, but physically involved them in the action!  Because that’s what Robert Vescio and Brendan Barnaville have created in this new release for our youngest readers!

From the get-go, they are invited to board the train – one of those old-fashioned red rattlers that we all envision from days long ago – and trace the beginning of their journey to the snow by following the track with their finger.  And, as the story and the journey unfold, it is their actions that keep things moving when the train gets stuck, as they help the snail on the track to safety, press the right button in an emergency and even make it snow at journey’s end.  And what a LOL ending it is – one that many of them will have if they venture my way this winter!  (And if they don’t, what an opportunity to investigate where in Australia -or anywhere – the story might have taken place.)

A peek inside…

But as well as the physical activities of tilting, shaking and so forth, the illustrations are so perfect to start a conversation about what is happening, the child can also contribute their own knowledge and interpretation to the words – such as suggesting what the little train driver might do with the spanner in his hand, or perhaps learn the word “viaduct” and what it is. What a sense of empowerment over the words and pictures that would be, building so many of those hidden concepts about print and stories that are the foundations of independent reading!

Whenever I have the privilege of reading and reviewing a book by Robert Vescio, regardless of the age of its intended audience (and he writes for a wide range), I always get the sense that “this man knows who he is writing for.”  And the choice of illustrator for this one was inspirational – the pictures are exactly what the words needed to bring them to life, while adding that extra bit of magic but not so much that the young reader doesn’t know where to focus.

I have a friend who has a friend who has just joined the Grandma Club, and this one will be going to help a new little one begin their reading journey.  Between them, Vescio and Barnaville (and Fox) can take the credit for setting yet another little one off on an adventure that will take them far beyond the end of the line and the snow!!!  Perhaps it will be a destination never quite reached. And all because they hopped on board a little red train that kept getting stuck! 

– Barbara Braxton