“Over the River and Through the Wood” by Linda Ashman. (Book Review)

Dolly travels by horse-drawn carriage (aka Mommy-drawn wagon) to get to her grandparents house for the holidays! 😉

The classic song “Over the River and Through the Wood” gets spun off into a new holiday book, sure to be a classic! The story follows a few different (refreshingly diverse, modern and multiracial!) families packing up the car, getting on the subway, the bus, the hot air balloon and heading off to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for holiday dinner. They hit some travel snafu’s along the way (run out of gas, flat tires) but there is fortunately a horse-drawn sleigh at their service to save the day and take them for the remainder of the ride, over the river
and through the woods! When finally the family makes it all together for the holidays via old-fashioned transportation, they are ready to sit down, eat and give thanks for being together!

This may be a fresh new twist on an old classic song, but it’s all new to Dolly, as it will likely be to your little one! The verses are cleverly rhymed and the repetition makes it an easy, breezy read! The illustrations by Kim Smith are so colorful and friendly; you truly feel like you traveling with and being welcomed into this big, happy, contemporary family …and you may not want to leave! Dolly is loving every verse of the book (I’ve been singing it) and she’s humming along! Most of all, she loves shouting out the “Neigggghh”s every time we see the horse pull up to save the day! We love this new Christmas book; it’s not too late to wrap it up under the tree – you can enjoy it all winter long!

Title: Over the River & Through the Wood
Author: Linda Ashman
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Publisher: Sterling Children’s Books
Release Date: October 6, 2015
Pages: 32