In this story of a bi-racial family, the son does not want to go to bed, especially without a cookie. Mom is fed up, so Dad finally resorts to a unique practice--allowing his son to "drive" the car (aka Dad) to his room. Any parent of a 3-year-old will recognize the scenario. One night the boy steers his car to the cookie jar cum gas station, whereupon the "car" speaks--NO! The first graders love this book, and some of the second graders. The others not as much. When Mitchell steered his father to the cookie jar, I stopped and had students predict what would happen. Interestingly enough, there were many variations of Mitchell getting the cookie, and no predictions that he would NOT receive a cookie. Hmmmmmmm. Audience: PrimaryGenre: Picture BookPre-Reading Strategy: First lines I would use the first lines pre-reading strategy for this book because the entire story is about having an active imagination. I would ask the students to only read the first sentence of the book. "Mitchell never ever EVER wanted to go to bed." I would ask the students to predict what the rest of the story was going to be about based on this sentence. I would ask the students to continue the story using that first sentence. I would ask the students to share their predictions before actually reading the story. I can just imagine the kids having so many stories to tell about their bedtime experiences. This would be a great hook to get the kids really wanting to read about Mitchell who only wants to go to bed if he can drive there.
This story was just so sweet and heart-warming; great for Father's Day, or any other day, really!
—100
This book gets better every time I read it. Kids from 5 to 55 can really relate to the story.
—pavee
Very cute book. Henry giggled the entire way thru. Going to make him a license to ride dad.
—tllord
Incredibly clever and creative and lots of fun to read out loud! Fantastic picture book!
—rudyd
I liked it, especially that the dad didn't let the kid get away with murder :)
—skipjen
