Ten on a Train

Ten animal friends set off together in a train and when it breaks down one animal stays behind to do the repairs. The remaining nine friends find a new vehicle, which then breaks down in turn and so on and on until only Hedgehog is left. He arrives solo (on skates) at the teashop but… whoosh! All the other nine creatures turn up, each in a patched up vehicle: ‘What took you so long?’

Made of thick card, this book has clever cut-outs on each right hand page to reveal the steadily decreasing number of animals as each new vehicle breaks down in turn. There’s lots to discuss in the illustrations: watery scenes… help, there’s a shark! Tin tacks strewn across the desert… hissssss goes the tyre. The text has many aids to early reading, quite apart from the counting down element – repetition as each new vehicle comes into view, prediction, and picture clues for new vocabulary. This accumulative book in reverse is surely one to be well-loved at home as well as in schools.