Marilyn Kay Writes a Children’s Book That Adults Will Enjoy Too! by Priscilla Bettis https:// twitter. com/ PriscillaBettis The Train of Make-Believe by Marilyn Kay is an early- readers’ book in which Mother Goose chaperones a group of modern-day children over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house. They get to travel on a train. The story is accompanied by full-color, easy-to-discern illustrations depicting people, animals, and the train.
Children will have fun reading out loud. There are “lively long lizards” and “dainty daisies” and other phrases that dance on the tongue. Older kids (and adults, too!) will enjoy listening for homophones (words that sound alike but are spelled differently) and the use of onomatopoeia (words that sound like their meaning, as in buzz).
The end of the book contains teaching resources. I can envision The Train of Make-Believe being used in either a classroom or a home-school setting. Kay points out things to look for and discuss in the book. For example, remember the “dainty daisies”? Teachers and students are encouraged to look for examples of alliteration. There’s also a glossary of train terminology so more advanced children can look up new vocabulary words. There’s even a “readers’ theater” version of the story included in the backmatter. Seventeen students can each take a character’s part and read through the story as if it were a play.
