RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT

A toddler plays king of the world as he maneuvers his toy vehicles around the track. Not only does he report traffic, he creates it. Enhanced with a toy robot, baseballs, chess pieces, a teddy bear and pencils, the track is multilevel, varied and propped up with stacks of books and shoeboxes. Included are trucks, trains, helicopters, buses, fire engines and of course, traffic lights. All this is conveyed, in great majority, by the illustrations that offer a bird’s eye view of the workings of a child’s clever imagination. The rhyming tempo is simple and straightforward, covering several automotive modes of transportation and their trappings: “Red lights flash. / Rail cars roll. /At the booth, / pay a toll.” Simply put, this is geared toward the youngest of car-crazy kids. The artwork is lively and rendered in thick, eye-catching colors with active strokes that provide a sense of motion. Not exactly Go Car, Go, but, nonetheless, a blithe and youthful lap read. (Picture book. 2-4)