It is only fitting that the first deep dive into my toddler’s favorite books is the brilliant Animals Go Vroom! by Abi Cushman. Animals Go Vroom! has been in a two-way tie for S’s favorite book for months, right from the moment S pulled it off a library shelf and was so transfixed we had to make it S’s first library book. Here’s why:

1. Surprising, Interactive Page Turns that Follow a Pattern
2. Active, Interactive Illustrations
3. Combining Two Favorite Subjects (Animals and Transportation)
4. Fun Animal and Transportation Sounds
5. Evocative Word Choices in Short Sentences

Each spread in the book follows the same interactive pattern. The left side of the book contains an animal sound seemingly related to an animal visible through a cut out on the right side of the book. The text invites the reader to guess what is making the sound, and to turn the page to finish the sentence.

And when you turn the page …

You see that the animal sound wasn’t an animal sound at all, but a transportation sound!

S LOVES this. S loves saying “roar” and all the other fun sounds in the book (“hiss” and “awoooooooooo” are particular favorites). S loves the surprise page turns, and the fact that they follow a predictable pattern, which heightens the suspense and excitement of each page turn. S also loves turning the pages by jamming one hand into the cutouts (a fun textural element!) while I hold my breath and silently thank the publisher for using sturdy paper.

Animals Go Vroom! is also a favorite because it does a lot to keep S’s attention.

Sentences are short, punchy, and active, with juicy word choices and alliteration. The truck doesn’t drive up the road – it rumbles. The unicycle doesn’t roll past the traffic – it teeters. The words aren’t just fun to say – they also sound like their meanings, which combined with the illustrations have added to S’s vocabulary.

Complementing the text, the illustrations are active, bright, and colorful. They also include a lot of background details for us to sink our teeth into and engage with as we read.

S loves to point out the hat on the tiger in both the “hidden” and fully revealed spreads above. In the spread below, S likes to point out the hippo (a favorite animal) and the picnic, bread, and cheese.

The images in the story also build off each other, with whole stories happening in the illustrations. It’s both world building and word building. On each page, S and I can discuss everything that is going on beyond the text on the page. The detail in the illustrations also offers a lot of new, easy, and exciting words to learn and/or practice. In the unicycle spread alone, we have a mouse in a helmet riding with a cupcake; the baby crow has a toy; the mommy crow has bread, grapes, cheese, and a bag; there are hippos and snakes and owls; the painter is in a hat….

These details not only make the story more interactive, but S’s interest in pointing them out builds vocabulary that S enjoys utilizing the next time we read the book.

Put simply, there’s a reason why S requests this book multiple times a week. Check it out – I hope you love it as much as we do!

Some quick stats on Animals Go Vroom!:

Page count: 30 pages of what I would consider the “main” book

Word count: 70

Average word count per illustration: 4.67 (I have a hunch that word count per illustration is going to be lowest in the books we read the most, so I’ll be tracking that over time. Check back to see how that hypothesis holds up….)