The Tall Block Tower
The Tall Block Tower
by ReadRead · 4 min readStack, stack, wobble… topple! Tom, Teddy and Cat build a block tower that keeps falling down, until Teddy has an idea: big blocks at the bottom. A happy story about trying again.
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Tom has a sunny playroom, a big box of wooden blocks, and two best toy friends: Teddy and Cat. He wants to build the tallest tower ever. Stack, stack, up it goes, until it starts to wobble. Crash! It topples down all over the rug, and Tom just laughs. Then Cat’s long tail knocks it down again, and Cat hides behind the toy box.
The new words in this book
To put things one on top of another. It comes up 8 times, and every time a wooden block really hops up onto the top of the tower.
To wobble and fall over. It comes up 7 times, and every time the tall tower tips and the blocks tumble across the rug.
The little rhyme “Up, up, up!” comes back on four spreads, so a child can call it out by page three. Every other word is a common word, like block, tower, tall, big, small and top.
Questions to ask while you read
Pause after each spread and ask one question. There are no right answers; the point is to get your child talking.
- 1What do you see in Tom’s playroom?
- 2How does Tom stack the blocks? Can you stack your hands?
- 3Is the tower as tall as Teddy? How tall are you?
- 4Why do you think the tower wobbles?
- 5Do you laugh when your tower topples, too?
- 6What bumps the tower this time? How does Cat feel?
- 7What does Tom say to Cat? What is Teddy’s idea?
- 8Why do big blocks go at the bottom?
- 9Tap each block to stack it. What happens at the end?
- 10What would you build with blocks?
How hard is this book?
About 250 words, sentences of 6–8 words, dialogue.
- Dialogue × 9“Again tomorrow!”
- Commands × 3“Let’s stack it up again!” says Tom.
- Not / no × 3Oh no! It is going to topple!
- Will / going to × 3Oh no! It is going to topple!
- Contractions × 3“Let’s stack it up again!” says Tom.
- Bigger / biggest × 5Now the tower is taller than Tom!
All 104 words, most used first
the 17 · up 11 · is 10 · and 8 · stack 8 · blocks 7 · topple 7 · a 6 · block 5 · ha 5 · it 5 · on 5 · says 5 · tall 5 · to 5 · now 4 · one 4 · top 4 · again 3 · big 3 · goes 3 · higher 3 · let's 3 · swish 3 · wobble 3 · as 2 · at 2 · best 2 · bottom 2 · box 2 · crash 2 · down 2 · going 2 · his 2 · last 2 · laughs 2 · no 2 · of 2 · oh 2 · puts 2 · tail 2 · that 2 · this 2 · toy 2 · all · am · another · are · behind · blue · bumps · cat's · come · comes · each · everyone · friends · go · gold · has · he · help · helps · her · here · hides · how · i · lamp · long · make · more · not · ok · over · part · playroom · put · red · rug · small · sorry · star · starts · sun · sunny · taller · tap · than · them · then · together · tomorrow · turn · turns · us · very · watch · what · will · wooden · wow · you · your
Names don’t count: the picture shows who it is.
Tips for parents
- First time: use Read to me and let your child just listen and watch.
- Before spread seven, stop and ask “How can they make the tower strong?” Let them guess.
- On the block page, say the words as your child taps: “Stack, stack… topple!”
- Make it real: stack cups, books or blocks together, big ones at the bottom, then topple them and laugh.