Red Light, Green Light

by Margaret Wise Brown, Leonard Weisgard (Illustrator)

All day and night the traffic signal blinks its messages of stop and go

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Transport, Fiction, Kids

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1944

About the author

Margaret Wise Brown wrote hundreds of books and stories during her life, but she is best known for Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Even though she died nearly 70 years ago, her books still sell very well.

Margaret loved animals. Most of her books have animals as characters in the story. She liked to write books that had a rhythm to them. Sometimes she would put a hard word into the story or poem. She thought this made children think harder when they are reading.

She wrote all the time. There are many scraps of paper where she quickly wrote down a story idea or a poem. She said she dreamed stories and then had to write them down in the morning before she forgot them.

She tried to write the way children wanted to hear a story, which often isn't the same way an adult would tell a story. She also taught illustrators to draw the way a child saw things. One time she gave two puppies to someone who was going to draw a book with that kind of dog. The illustrator painted many pictures one day and then fell asleep. When he woke up, the papers he painted on were bare. The puppies had licked all the paint off the paper.

Margaret died after surgery for a bursting appendix while in France. She had many friends who still miss her. They say she was a creative genius who made a room come to life with her excitement. Margaret saw herself as something else - a writer of songs and nonsense.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

So yes, with Margaret Wise Brown's (or of course her pseudonym Golden MacDonald’s) 1944 picture book Red Light, Green Light, her presented text is certainly and generally kept simple enough in and of itself. But also (and very much most unfortunately so) Red Light, Green Light reads rhythmically and lyrically more than a trifle awkwardly and haltingly and indeed to such an extent that in my humble opinion, only the very simplicity of Brown's printed words actually do manage to keep the verbal clumsiness encountered in Red Light, Green Light from becoming too distracting and potentially confusing to and for young readers (and of course also young listeners).

Combined with the fact that the relentless message of following traffic signals in Red Light, Green Light equally has absolutely none of the magic of Margaret Wise Brown's Noisy Books (where repeated questions regarding noises and sounds are actually and in fact engaging and reassuring) because Red Light, Green Light just seems to feel like a massive overstatement and even rather insulting to children (since being told once or twice that red means stop and green means go makes sense, but being confronted with and by this continuously just is so very massively preachy and annoying), I really cannot say that I have at ALL truly enjoyed Red Light, Green Light.

And indeed, the only reason that my rating for Red Light, Green Light is still two and not one star is that I have actually very much visually enjoyed Leonard Weisgard's accompanying artwork, but yes indeed, that even with my aesthetic tastes being pleasantly tickled by Weisgard's illustrations, this does not save Margaret Wise Brown's majorly lacklustre text and therefore will only up Red Light, Green Light from one to two stars.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm. Well, sad. I was hoping for another good one from Brown/Weisgard but this one kind of disappointed. And honestly it was the text. I found it repetitively dry. I couldn’t see myself reading this aloud without starting to skip lines.

Ages: 2 - 4

[Two Hearts Homeschool · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars and only that many because of the illustrations. I don’t get this book. Red light from me.

[Deborah Schultz · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's okay. I liked the illustrations. It was cute.

[Becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

We've been practicing identifying colors with my daughter and she has recently caught on to the streetlights while we are driving in the car (backseat driver!) - this book was an impulse pick up from the library based solely on the cover. The story is quiet and calm, not sing-songy, and while I think it is just ok, my 2 year old loves it. She has requested this book so many times and has even read it to the dog. Red light, green light, stop, go, car, house, horse, dog, cat, mouse. I suppose it is a good foundation for a pre-reader - the illustrations have a vintage feel to them and I really like that.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ideas behind this book are great, visually and verbally coming together to give the child readers the signals they need to connect the words "stop" and "go" with the colors and the actions. The illustrations and text, however, confuse the concepts, with "stop" written next to the go-green eyes of the cat, and the text describing the eyes of the cat and the bunny on the left hand page with the bunny, when the words describing the cat should rightfully be on the page with the cat. These problems persist throughout- which is so unfortunate, because simply moving the text would render this a truly phenomenal picture book and teaching tool.

[Lindsey Wingfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review: I gave this 3 stars because of its repeating words. Although they give detail about a read light and green light, I think they could of done more instead of repeating. I think students will be able to recognize what is supposed to be learned throughout the book. The artistic elements are very detailed with showing the house, the tent, jeep, car, dog and cat.. etc.

Summary: Red light you don't go, green light you can. Starts off with the sun rising and everyone coming out, how they go through their day with the lights being red and green and then how it becomes night, when they all go home and the only thing you can see are the green and red lights blinking throughout the night.

[Kevin Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top notch :)

[jacky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the idea of this book, but not the execution. I found it wordy, making it hard to read to the kids (particularly upside down as I do most of our lunch time reading).

[Ruth]

I like how the illustrations played with green and red, but they made me feel a little sick.

[David Schwenker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful art, awkward writing.

[Tami Ritchey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful rhyming book that follows the travelers through one town as they stop and go at the stop lights. My Kindergarteners had fun learning the words STOP and GO using this book! We practiced reading the words and wrote each in their corresponding colors so they could hold them up when they saw the word in the book!

[Isaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drew read this book to me.

[Rebecca Caufman]

A busy day, going and stopping.

[Leilani Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art style is pretty, but there isn't much else I enjoyed about this book. (I think it is a bit old for kids these days)

[Danette · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/19/24 Read with Charlotte

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This must have been quite modern when it came out. It has the feel of "Go Dog Go" with much pattern and repetition about red (stop) and green (go) and the types of vehicles and animals that move through the town. Double page wordless spreads give us a visual break from some wordy sections. I liked this better after a couple of readings.

[Peggy Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Margaret Wise Brown and believe she was a poet at heart. She even manages to it with Red Light, Green Light. The simple story of stoplight is charming. And the art work, as always, is extraordinary.

[Amy]

This was the perfect lead-in for our preschool about LIGHTS. For my complete review (as well as some light-themed activities): http://sunlitpages.blogspot.com/2013/...

[Janae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Same author as "Goodnight Moon." Not my favorite to read, but it does teach the concept of "red light - stop, green light - go" well. W listened attentively because of all of the cars and trucks. Just okay...

[Shelly Koressel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book about the red light and greet light, and what to do. Good for following directions and learning your colors. Preschool up to 1st grade.

[Brittany Lockard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for teaching how to follow directions.

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

A great book for teaching the concept Red Light means stop, green light means go, as that concept is repeated many times and illustrated many ways throughout this book.

**Talking Points - There are many animals in this book. If you could have any animals that you wanted, which would you want? Why do we have stoplights? Why do we have rules? Are rules to keep us happy and safe? Do people who love us give us rules? Who are some of the people who give us rules?