The Problem With Bank Street's Early Stories

Bank Street stories might depict a jackhammer or a train going by and then ask the child to imitate those sounds, but also any other sounds they might feel like imitating. All of which pretty much stood in diametric opposition to the philosophy of Anne Carolmore. The writing in most of these early stories came across as stiff and formulaic. There were only occasional illustrations, with no real interplay between image and words.