For truck lovers everywhere.
A day in the life of a truck stop as told by its youngest worker, whose love for the place is very clear.
A little boy and his parents start out before the sun is up to go to work at their busy truck stop beside the highway. The routine of their day will soothe readers: They prep the food, Uncle Marty opens the garage, and they wait for the regulars to make an appearance. “I love how they come rumbling their wheels, / and with air brakes whooshing.” Sam and Eighteen-Wheeler are first. Uncle Marty checks tires while Mom puts in Sam’s usual order. It’s coffee and doughnuts for Maisie, who drives Milk Tank. Then come Diligent Dan’s Moving Van and Digger riding on Flatbed. But where is Green Gus, the old pickup? Once Pete and Priscilla arrive in their Tow Truck, it’s time for the boy to board Big Yellow Bus. Along the way, he spies Green Gus. Pete and Priscilla come to the rescue, and Uncle Marty gets to work. The trucks and drivers go their separate ways, but only until tomorrow. Iwai’s mixed-media collage illustrations invite readers into the scenes with their bright colors and interesting textures. While a truck stop is a business, the text and artwork together spin a web around the boy and his family that make it seem quite homey, complete with good friends and good food.
For truck lovers everywhere. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: May 16, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-670-06261-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground.
A little red sleigh has big Christmas dreams.
Although the detailed, full-color art doesn’t anthropomorphize the protagonist (which readers will likely identify as a sled and not a sleigh), a close third-person text affords the object thoughts and feelings while assigning feminine pronouns. “She longed to become Santa’s big red sleigh,” reads an early line establishing the sleigh’s motivation to leave her Christmas-shop home for the North Pole. Other toys discourage her, but she perseveres despite creeping self-doubt. A train and truck help the sleigh along, and when she wishes she were big, fast, and powerful like them, they offer encouragement and counsel patience. When a storm descends after the sleigh strikes out on her own, an unnamed girl playing in the snow brings her to a group of children who all take turns riding the sleigh down a hill. When the girl brings her home, the sleigh is crestfallen she didn’t reach the North Pole. A convoluted happily-ever-after ending shows a note from Santa that thanks the sleigh for giving children joy and invites her to the North Pole next year. “At last she understood what she was meant to do. She would build her life up spreading joy, one child at a time.” Will she leave the girl’s house to be gifted to other children? Will she stay and somehow also reach ever more children? Readers will be left wondering. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 31.8% of actual size.)
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72822-355-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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