Don’t for get. Today is World Giraffe Day. Reach up—way up—and hug your favorite giraffe. (Don’t forget to tell us about it.)

Today’s Book:  A vibrant cultural version of a classic, often sung, nursery rhyme.
The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk
Written by Kabir Sehgal and Surishtha Sehgal
Illustrated by Jess Golden
Beach Lane Books  1/12/2016
978-1-4814-4831-4
32 pages  Ages 4—8

“Take a ride through an Indian town as the tuk tuk wheels go round and round! This delightful spin on ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ brings a lively and colorful twist to a classic nursery rhyme.” [inside jacket]

Review
“The tuk tuk wheels go round and round, round and”— What?! The “tuk tuk wheels” go round and round? What the heck are tuk tuk wheels? Tuk tuk wheels are the three wheels on the “taxi” like vehicle used in India to transport people around town. Those vehicles are called tuk tuks. Instead of a bus, people are getting on and off a tuk tuk. “Rupees on the tuk tuk go ching, ching”— Hold on! Rupees go ching? Okay, what is a rupee? From the detailed illustrations, a rupee is a coin. Instead of “the money,” in this version, the tuk tuks collect rupees.

Most young children—and parents—know The Wheels on the Bus practically by heart. Now teachers and parents can teach children a new version of the classic, complete with new words and a new culture. Reading The Wheel on the Tuk Tuk will help young children, and adults, learn new Indian words: Namaste-ji, wala, yogi, chai, poppa-doppa-doms, and Diwali. Other words young children may not be familiar with include squish, bobble, and chant. The repetition of these words makes it easy for young children to learn them quickly. The meanings of the Indian words, and how and why Indians treasure cows and elephants, are available in the back matter.

The gorgeous watercolor, pastel, and color pencil illustrations depict a multicultural Indian life and culture. The first spread has two western travelers watching the tuk tuk venture off for the day’s work. From there, colorful people from many lifestyles ride the tuk tuk and fill the Indian streets. The vibrant experience will make readers smile. The mother-son writing team (A Bucket of Blessings), offer children a rhyming text, making the story of the tuk tuk “bobble” by. The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk is a cute read aloud for a fun afternoon or a library/classroom story time read.

Children will enjoy the illustrations and the Indian life they describe. Finding a cow lying in the street and giving it the right of way will amuse children not familiar with treasuring cows as sacred brings. (Oddly, the man leaning out of the tuk tuk looks very angry. Not the expression one would expect to see, considering the cow is a scared animal in India.) The spreads contain much humor. A monkey walks along with a banana peel on its head, while another tries to steal food from a market. An elephant sprays water on the tuk tuk with its gaily-painted trunk. There are details enough to keep young children gazing at the spreads much longer than needed to read the text. The bright colors and interesting people, wearing (to many of us) unfamiliar clothing will have children asking questions—always good thing when learning something new.

The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk will entertain children while introducing them to a new part of the world. One of the easiest ways to remember something is by singing. Young children soak up knowledge faster than at any other time in their lives. Put those two together and you can teach young children anything. But if you want to read, you need a picture book. The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk can provide all three: a book to read, a song to sing, and a new culture to learn. What can beat that?

THE WHEELS ON THE TUK TUK. Text copyright © 2016 by Kabir Sehgal and Surishtha Sehgal. Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Jess Golden. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Beach Lane Books, New York, NY.

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Find The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk on Goodreads HERE.

Kabir Sehgal:  http://kabir.cc/
Follow on Twitter          @HiKabir

Surishtha Sehgal:  short biography
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Jess Golden:  http://www.jessgolden.com/
Follow on Twitter          @JessGoldenIllus

Beach Lane Books:  http://imprints.simonandschuster.biz/beach-lane-books
Follow on Twitter          @SimonKIDS

Beach Lane Books is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.

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Reprinted with permission from THE WHEELS ON THE TUK TUK © 2016 by Kabir Sehgal and Surishtha Sehgal, Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Illustrations © 2016 by Jess Golden.

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Copyright © 2016 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

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Full Disclosure: The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk by Kabir Sehgal and Surishtha Sehgal & Jess Golden, and received from Beach Lane Books, (an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing), is in exchange NOT for a positive review, but for an HONEST review. The opinions expressed are my own and no one else’s. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk
Written by Kabir Sehgal and Surishtha Sehgal
Illustrated by Jess Golden
Beach Lane Books 1/12/2016
9781481448314