The Wheel On The School by Meindert DeJong

Janus in His Wheelchair

Lina on a Boat with one of the Fathers

I had so much fun reading this to my kids as one of their Read-Alouds this year for school. This book is in competition with "Understood Betsy" as my favorite book of this school year.

Eelka Rolling a Wheel

The Storm over Shora

It is a very well written story about 5 children in a fishing town in Netherlands who begin asking questions, wanting to know about storks and why they never come to Shora. As the kids continue to wonder about these things, this town that is small and does the same thing day in and day out begins to come alive. Connections are made, relationships built and daring deeds are done in order to do what it takes to bring storks back to Shora. I cannot tell you how many times I laughed out loud at the antics and sayings of many of the people, especially Janus, who made the book, in my opinion.

The only downside for me was a few parts that seemed really drawn out, but this is not enough to recommend it. It is a lot of fun to read and imagine as you hear what these children did. It also makes you wonder what might happen if you started wondering about something. I look forward to reading this in the future with my younger kids when they get to this year of school!

Two Storks on a Wheel

Two Storks in Front of the Furnace

4.5 stars for this exciting read!

Thanks to my kids for their illustrations of parts of the story.