A collection of trucks call it a night.
A milk truck, a tractor trailer, a dump truck, a garbage truck, a tanker truck, a tow truck, a monster truck, a flatbed truck and more all go about their end-of-day routines as the sky goes from twilight to evening. With only one or two trucks per double-page spread, long shadows and images of workers winding down from a long day, the scenes are quiet. A fire truck backs into the station, and the driver of an ice cream truck hangs a closed sign on the outside of her vehicle. The text is minimal, consisting mainly of captions labeling the vehicles, so it is Biggs’ quirky cartoons of chunky vehicles and droll people in muted hues that tell the story. The second-to-last double-page spread shows a pajama-clad man yawning and closing the door to his motor home, and the final scene depicts four dark vehicles in a moonlit RV park as the text reads, “Shhh...good night!” It’s refreshing to see the nonanthropomorphic vehicles only suggesting bedtime rather than being forced to perform getting-ready-for-bed rituals.
Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-195815-1
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2013
Categories: CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION
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Two pirates and their parrot companion embark on adventures to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”
Following Car, Car, Truck, Jeep (2018), Charman and Sharratt team up again for this swashbuckling, musical tale. The two buccaneers and their parrot spend a day at sea engaged in such maritime activities as scrubbing the deck and hoisting the sail along with quintessentially piratical chores like digging up buried treasure. At the end of the day—which culminates in a nonviolent walk across the plank—the two pirates return home. Charman’s rhyming text has a nice cadence, and thanks to the cover note to sing along to the tune of “Row, Row, Row, Your Boat,” it moves along at a nice clip. For the most part, the rhymes work neatly into the tune so that it reads easily the first time through. Sharratt’s black-outlined illustrations are boldly colored and eye-catching. The pirates themselves are not obviously gendered; one presents white and the other has light-brown skin. Most of the ocean creatures have anthropomorphized features—a mostly successful choice with the exception of the jellyfish and octopus, shown awkwardly with humanlike noses and smiles (and, oddly, eyebrows for the octopus). Overall, this one holds high appeal for little readers, and the nature of the singsong-y, rhyming text will make it a highly requested reread.
A perfect piece of treasure it is not, but shiver me timbers, it’s fun. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0319-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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A chunky board book with ingenious gatefolds, flaps, die-cuts, and construction trucks galore.
Like its series predecessors, this title has ample toddler appeal. Not only is its construction-site theme a passion for many children, its bold colors and thoughtful design will engage little hands and eyes as they pore over the pages. After the first two spreads show a wrecking ball smashing and crashing to open the book, two children peer out, asking, “WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?” and “CAN I LOOK, TOO?” Their pages open up as side-by-side gatefolds to reveal a vast scene with “SO MANY TRUCKS! SO MANY WORKERS!” Subsequent spreads home in on individual vehicles plied by racially diverse workers and their respective roles in building up a city block. Layout includes gatefolds that open vertically up and down as well as horizontally left and right, and many pages are shaped to visually echo the vehicles and objects depicted. While such familiar fare as a bulldozer, dump truck, and a crane appear, less-common vehicles and equipment emerge as well, with some of the more dramatic gatefolds and die-cuts revealing a tunnel borer, a massive bridge builder that spans valleys, and sky cranes hovering above like superpowered helicopters. The book culminates as workers take a lunch break and then throw themselves back into work to “BUILD, BUILD, BUILD ALL OVER TOWN!”
Sure to inspire calls of “READ IT AGAIN!” (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2569-2
Page Count: 90
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION
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