Shortcut

Crews, D. (1992). Shortcut. New York, New York: Greenwillow Books.

Brief Annotation: Bigmamma’s grandchildren stay at her house for the summer and they have been told to stay away from the train tracks. However, when they were out they were in a hurry to get home and took a shortcut; they followed the train tracks. As they followed the tracks, a train comes up right behind them and they barely escaped. Now they know why they should stay away from the train tracks.

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Grade Level:K-2

Readers who will like this: Readers who enjoy reading about excitement.

Response/Rating (1-4):*** I did like this book because it is exciting. The plot started out confusing because the audience isn’t told what the kids were doing out so late but then the plot gets exciting as following the tracks becomes dangerous. The illustrations were water colored and very detailed; they depicted the story very well.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: Did you ever have to do something you were told not to do but had to do it because it was your only option?