Beat Bugs: Ticket to Ride by Cari Meister- OPTIONAL

Meister, Cari Beat Bugs: Ticket to Ride. PICTURE BOOK. I Can Read Book (HarperCollins), 2017. $4. 9780062640697

The Beat Bugs have created a wonderful ride. The only catch is that they can’t ride it unless Alex the stinkbug can create gas to make the ride move and he’s all out of gas. No one wants to collect more of the leaves that Alex needs to be stinky, but Kumi is willing to go. When she returns with the leaves, everyone gets one as their ticket for the ride. Every other bug is careless with their ticket and the leaves get lost, or eaten, or torn apart. Kumi is sad because she really wanted to ride with her friends and now they can’t go. All the other Beat Bugs are upset because Kumi is riding without them. The rest of the group finally realizes that Kumi went to get the leaves all on her own and then everyone lost them. They decided to fix the problem.

This is a version of an episode of the Beat Bugs TV show. It jumps right in, which makes it a little hard to follow when the book begins. If readers are fans of the show, it would be much easier for them to get directly into the book. It’s got more detail and story to it than most early readers, but because it includes so much in such a short volume, the writing quality isn’t impressive.  The lyrics to the song “Ticket To Ride” are included in the back.

Pre-K, EL (K-3)- OPTIONAL. Shay, School Librarian