10 Turkeys in the Road

by Brenda Reeves Sturgis, David Slonim

Ten turkeys in the road are circus performers practicing their show. As a farmer in his pickup truck tries to pass them, he grows more and more frustrated. The turkeys fly away one at a time, but in the end, the clever turkeys get exactly what they were after all along. Bold, hilarious acrylic paintings bring to life all the spectacle and excitement of the circus.

Genres: Picture Books, Counting, Thanksgiving, Childrens, Animals, Storytime, Mathematics

32 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2011

Reviews

[Katelynne]

This book is cute but I’m not 100% sure what the point of it is. I see turkeys and I think we are gonna get a little bit of a Thanksgiving theme. Not here, lol. It’s a funny counting book to say the least!

[Melanie Hetrick]

A farmer encounters 10 turkeys in the road trying to set up a turkey circus. Each endeavor he makes to try to get through the turkeys is foiled by turkey antics. Also with each attempt to get through one turkey flies away. Finally there are no turkeys left as the last one notices that if he doesn't get moving he'll be late. So he steals the farmers truck, leaving the farmer stuck. Farmer catches a ride to the circus with a car full of ....pigs.

Kids will love find the turkey who's getting away with each turn of the page. Fantastic for storytime.

[Lara]

A counting book with turkeys, the circus, a fairly easy rhyming scheme, and a lot of silly pictures. Nothing super remarkable, but still fun and easy to read. I've used it for a November storytime (not Thanksgiving specifically, but that time of year), but would also pull it out for numbers/counting or circus themes. Better for an older storytime crowd, I think, not toddlers or younger preschoolers. Would be a good one-on-one read too, since there are plenty of silly details in the pictures to point out.

[Anthony]

A tale involving circus turkeys, who block the road and frustrate a farmer in a truck, and one by one leave the road. A silly tale using numbers and outlandish antics by turkeys on their way to the circus

[Kelly]

It's a counting book. A farmer in a truck encounters 10 turkeys in the road. They are doing silly things and one flies away. And so on.

[Heather]

Fun book for 5+, a little old for my storytime crowd.

[Lynn Davidson]

A farmer is trying to drive his truck down the road but turkeys are always in his way. This fun rhyming story is a twist on 10 little monkeys, and with a surprise ending. Great illustrations.

[Bethany]

Prep for this summer's Reading Buddies

A silly counting book. It rhymes and most of the meter is easily read.

[Molly Cluff (Library!)]

A bunch of turkeys are practicing their circus in the middle of the road, much to the chagrin of the farmer trying to drive on the road. I'm always game for more turkey books!

[Peyton]

My kids truly enjoyed this book because of the catchy-ness and the counting skill.

[IfCatsCouldRead]

Kids thought this was hilarious

[Megan]

Sort of a counting book, sort of a rhyming book. Turkeys causing chaos.

[Rick Christiansen]

Bought some new books. Another fun one!

[Diane]

Read to Granddaughter

[DiAnne Warfield]

Holt-Delhi library PJ story time 11-26-2025

[Valeska]

This is a cute little library discovery. We have had some pretty goofy bedtimes as of late.

[Nancy Patterson]

Date I completed reading the book: 11-11-20

My star rating (1 to 5): *****

The date: 11-25-20

Genre: Fiction, Mathematics

Grade range: Pre K-2

Book review: This is a funny and engaging book that incorporates math! This is a great read a loud book!

[Megan Cureton]

10 Turkeys in the Road is a book about 10 turkeys that are circus performers practicing their show in the middle of the road. One day, they were blocking the road when a farmer pulled in his truck. He beeped his horn and one turkey flew away. That left nine turkeys, so the farmer flashed his lights, and another turkey flew away. With eight turkeys left, the farmer started to inch forward and another turkey flew away. The book keeps this same pattern, until one turkey is left, he jumps in the farmers in truck, his nine turkey friends jump in, and they drive off leaving the farmer behind. A car pulls up full with pigs and asks the farmer if he needs a ride to the circus, so he jumps in. The book ends with a nice illustration of the 10 turkeys at the circus doing their tricks and the farmers truck is in their act. My favorite part of this story was when the one turkey stole the farmers truck and yelled, "Come see the show!" This part just made me laugh and I appreciate the humor. I would have this book in my classroom library for first through third graders. I think they would appreciate this story because of the humor and most children love the circus. I really enjoyed the illustrations in this book. I like how the illustrator used the whole page and made their illustrations really big so you could see all the details in the illustrations. I also liked how the illustrations really told the story. I feel like a student that still has trouble reading could read this text because when they aren't sure of a word or words, they can look at the illustration and get a feel of what is happening in the story and still understand what is going on. I also like how you could incorporate math in with this book, because on each page, you have to subtract one turkey from however many is left. This would be a good exercise to use to work with subtraction and also a fun and interesting way. I think the students would be more involved this way when there is a story behind the math. I really enjoyed this story about the turkeys and the circus.

[Elnara Browers]

Summary:
10 silly turkeys decide to mess around with a farmer's road trip. Counting down from 10, each page tells of something funny that 10, 9, 8, and so on, turkeys do on farmer's journey to reach his destination.
Genre:
This is a picture book. Each page is illustrated with a theme and events that go along with a short text.
Mentor writing trait(s): sentence structure (short sentences, describing what mischief the turkeys get into), organization (counting down from 10)
Identify specific concepts that could be integrated into the classroom:
Thanksgiving holiday, Fall harvest, counting, .
Counting, read-aloud.
Provide any other suggestions that would be useful regarding literary content, reading level, and other ways in which the book might be integrated:
Reading level K-3 1.8

[Sara]

10 Turkeys In The Road by Brenda Reeves Sturgis and Illustrated by David Slonim is a fantastic Thanksgiving book that kids love. The counting book begins with a farmer unable to get by because there are turkeys in the road. The delightful illustrations continue with each number until they finally steal his truck and he ends up at the turkey circus.

My students loved this book and I was able to put it to a familiar tune and sing the entire thing. They giggled at the illustrations that get sillier with each page that's turned.

I recommend this book to kids 4-8 and it's a must have addition to holiday picture book libraries.

[Anita]

This book was good for both kids to learn something about numbers. With Cooper we used the number chart and each time a turkey flew away we asked how many turkeys were left after we took one away. He was able to see visually how the amount changes when one is taken away. I really like how the story had the number included somewhere in the illustration. We had Alyssa look for the numbers to start her identifying numbers.

[Tam]

My 4-year-old liked this silly rhyming and countdown book about turkeys in the road who are driving a farmer crazy! The illustrations are fun.

"Ten turkeys blocked the road
one hot and hazy day.
A pickup screeched. A farmer beeped.
One turkey flew away."

When one turkey is left, he calls for his friends and they all come back and take the farmer's truck, leaving the farmer all alone. A car filled with pigs pulls up and asks the farmer if he needs a ride.

[Kimberly]

This is a counting book (from 10-1) that tells the story about a farmer who is driving down the road and keeps coming across a group of circus turkeys. He gets more frustrated with their funny antics and slowly scares one turkey away at the end of each page. It's told in a super fun rhyme and includes adorable illustrations. My daughter likes to point out the number in each picture. This book always brings out quite a few giggles.

[Sheryl Martin]

I received this book for my son for christmas and i am in love!! I have been so bored with the traditional counting books but this was written as a story that also teaches your child how to count!! Its a book i actually enjoy reading to my son. And the illustrations are just beautiful!!! Its a must-have for your childs library!!

[Tricia]

Counting down turkeys from 10, the birds in the road give the farmer an issue (and then steal his truck). Children will be in giggles over the ending of this one. Not really a Thankgiving book but would play nicely in a bird or turkey storytime.

[Linda]

Nothing funnier than a turkey circus! Throw in some counting and a pig clown car and you have a winner!

[Ashley Allen]

This is a great book to work with students are counting down from 10 to 1. Students will have to process which number comes before 9 instead of which number comes after.

[Jayanne]

My storytime kids liked it more than I did.

[Samantha]

I liked this one quite a lot. I thought it had a good story and cute illustrations.

[Courtney K]

I hated it b/c it has clowns. Bobo loved it b/c clowns scare mama, lol.