Subway Ride

by Heather Lynne Miller, Sue Rama (Illustrator)

Down, down, down. Step down below to see the world.

A fantastical journey introduces young readers to subway travel. Five children pay the fare, pass through the gates, and zip through the tunnels of subway stations in ten cities around the globe. The trip around the world underscores how travel and cultural connections create community.

Back matter includes information about the ten stations Atlanta, Cairo, Chicago, London, Mexico City, Moscow, New York City, Stockholm, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.

Genres: Picture Books, Transport, Childrens, Nonfiction, Trains, Storytime

32 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2009

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy the poetry aspect of this. Seeing the Moscow, NYC, Atlanta and Stockholm Metro tickets and having been on many of those trains, was fun to remember.

[Cristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Assignment: Picture Book Project
Category: Tumblebooks
Recommending Source: Library of Virginia

Review: Five children enter the subway system and introduce the reader to an underground traveling adventure. We watch their experiences as they journey around the world visiting places like Moscow, London, New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, and Tokyo. The book allows the reader to see how a subway ride can connect people from place to place as part of their daily lives.

Viewing this book via the Tumblepad on Tumblebooks.com, it looks as though the illustrator used all colors of the rainbow with watercolors to create the illustrations. The two-dimensional characters and subway train come to life as they move along in the subway stations. The words in the story are highlighted as the narrator reads along. As this is my second time using Tumblebooks.com, viewing this story seemed easier than when I used the playlist for a different book. I actually had the option of manually going back and forth going through the screens.

This book can be used in a pre-kindergarten or kindergarten transportation unit. Students can learn about different modes of transportation, what they are used for, and then use a comparison chart between them all. For children that live in larger metropolitan areas, this book is a good introduction to how the subway system operates. It can help to ease their uncertainties and give them a better understanding of what to expect when they ride a subway train for the first time.

My daughter has been on passenger train rides and my son has only experienced light rail with us as a family, but they both have never been on a subway train. I would use this book or the Tumblepad video to show them what experiences they may encounter. My four year old son presently loves all types of transportation vehicles, but at the moment, trains are his favorite mode of transportation. This would be a very exciting ride for him! In addition to using this book with my own children, I really liked the descriptions and beautiful illustrations. I also noticed that the children all came from diverse ethnicities and together they were traveling to many different subway stations around the world. This book shows how even if we may live in different places worldwide, we have commonality in some of the modes of transportation that we use.

[Tonya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subway Ride gives a glimpse into the underground world of subway transportation. I love the way the author incorporates ten stations from around the world, including Atlanta, Cairo, Chicago, London, Mexico City, Moscow, New York City, Stockholm, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. The author takes us on a quick and informative ride around the globe with a clever mix repetition, rhyme, and descriptive words. This book will help young readers who have never traveled by subway to understand what it’s like to ride a subway, and for those who have, it will inspire them to contribute their own experiences. The colorful illustrations make this inviting for young readers.

I would integrate this book into many different areas such as: literacy, geography, and culture. In literacy, I could use to teach students to identify what the author wants to explain or describe. I would use it to show students the different areas of the world that are discussed in the book, and to talk about the various cultures of the places that the subway systems are located. I would also use it with first and second grade students to think critically about the advantages and disadvantages of using this type of system for traveling. We could write a paper in which they give their opinion and supporting reasons for or against the idea of getting a subway in our local community. The possibilities are endless with this text, and that is what makes it a WOW book for me!

[Erin Buhr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rhyming energetic language that moves and sways like a ride on the subway. This book carries you through time and space as it details what a ride on the subway is like through the eyes of children. I love that the illustrations take you around the world on different subways - don't miss the extra information about each one at the back. Full of vibrancy and life and diversity.

[Eddie Garcia]

this book shows how cultures and traveling can connect to build a community

[Library Lady Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the journey around the world you get to take on this subway ride.

[Adrianne Rosal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow so much to learn about trains!!

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

F&P Level E. What kid doesn’t love transportation? Great geography connections, too (especially to Washington D.C.)!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subway Ride by Heather Lynne Miller, illustrated by Sue Rama, is the fantasy journey of five children who zip through the tunnels of ten subway stations around the world and bump & sway their way to a park.

Rama's colorful illustrations are done as a digital collage of watercolor art. I liked the identification of each city on a transit card as ten different subway views around the world are shown, including Atlanta, Cairo, Chicago, London, Mexico City, Moscow, New York City, Stockholm, Tokyo, and Washington DC. My favorite images are pay fare, jazzy vibes, silver bullet, move aside, slide back, tunnels, stomping, and step out.

Miller's text uses a large font, making this a good choice for beginning readers. While not every rhyme is perfect, they generally work well. Subway vocabulary include fare, gate, underground, rumbling, track, bump, sway, and clacking. Three pages after the story identify the ten cities with subways pictured, along with some background and historical information. This could be used for a transportation theme. I have ridden the subway on 5 of these lines and would love to ride the other 5!

For ages 4 to 7, subways, transportation, informational, vehicles, rhyming, trains, and fans of Heather Lynne Miller and Sue Rama.

[Megan MacDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I just took a subway ride after reading this book! The descriptions of the different places that the characters stop at in this story is great for learning and teaching children about adjectives and interesting words that can be used in their own writing. This book leads us through the subway, and can be very educational for children to learn about a real world situation. The characters are also of different races all around the world, and the end of the book gives information about multiple subway or transit stations. I think this was a good book, recommended for elementary aged children-maybe 4th or 5th grade to allow them to be used.

[Kristen Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story follows 5 young children from different backgrounds as they travel. The children pay their fare, go through the gates, and catch the subway and visit 10 cities around the world. This trip shows how travel and cultural connections can create community. In the back of the book it gives information about the ten stations mentioned that actually do have subways, when they were built, and what their use is.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short and sweet story about Subways is informational for children who have either never been on or heard of a subway, or those who ride them each and every day. It shows the ride in a more fun and upbeat manner, and with the rhyming, children are likely to have a good time listening to and reading this book aloud. It is a great find for new readers up to about second grade. The illustrations are great and show a lot of diversity.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

A snappy, upbeat picture book with bright watercolor illustrations representing subway systems around the world. A short note about these systems can be found at the end of the book--London's subway is the oldest in the world and Cairo, Egypt's the only one in Africa. Happy children from around the world bump, sway, and dance through brightly lit tunnels on their way to a sunlit park.

[G. G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

All over the world, subways snake through tunnels deep below city streets... cities depend on underground trains to move millions of people from place to place. These are my favorite lines from the book. I miss riding the metro. The pictures are cool and I like how it mentioned metro systems all over the world. Cool, very cool book.

[Asho · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gets 4 stars because it taught me something about our local subway system that I didn't know. Apparently a station not far from our home has the longest escalator in the western hemisphere!
I liked the diversity of the children in the drawings, and thought it was really neat that so many different city's subway systems were depicted in the drawings.

[Turrean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brief rhyming text; multicultural cast. Nice for the PK / K set. I would've liked to see a tiny bit more explanation of what a subway actually is. The idea of subways is a completely foreign concept to my rural students. Perhaps there was back matter in the printed text that didn't make it into the digital version.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick romp through some of the more famous subways of the world. Not very informative, but the illustrations depict some of the more distinct features of the subway stations. Our girls enjoyed watching this book read aloud on the "Tumblebooks" online audiobook site (tumblebooks.com).

[Anne Newell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this book because it could introduce rural kids how people in big cities travel . There is a good cadence to the book and we see many different kinds of people on the subway. A first grade reader could read this book alone.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A serviceable rhyming text story about riding the subway - with information in the back about subways around the world.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really great for storytime...

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bright illustrations. Simple rhyming text. Excellent introduction to an event that is part of the lives of so many children and a celebration of that experience.

[Kim]

An interesting book to use in storytime about the subway - kids in Ohio have no idea what that is! :)

[Aerin · Rating 4 out of 5]

simple, bright, colorful; aimed more at children kindergarten and younger

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book about public transportation all over the world. Would be good for storytime, I think.

[Nick Cherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this would be a great book to share if you were teaching about ways to travel, and different locations.

[Laurie]

Purchased from Charlesbridge booth at ALA Chicago, 2009.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read at Toddler Lap Time on 10/11/12:
http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent primer for kids on metro/subway travel. It was a kick to tell my kids how many of the trains I've been on internationally. Beautiful illustrations.

[Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vibrant and simple text makes this a fun ride! I found the endnote information about different cities underground trains pretty interesting.