For young truck enthusiasts.
Trucks of all kinds get ready for Christmas with the help of an elflike little mouse.
Readers are invited to imagine and act out the activities of large-eyed, smiling diggers, cherry pickers, forklifts, tanker trucks, and others that are on their way to a large gathering. The appealing story is in rhyming verse, although the scansion is frequently awkward: “Where do cherry pickers celebrate / once they’ve stretched to reach great heights? / Do they hang up strings of colored bulbs / that make truck stops bright with lights?” Each type of truck is featured on its own brightly colored double-page spread in landscape design with lots of room for individual scenarios. A family of diggers excavates a tree, concrete mixers sip eggnog after a long day’s work, and tow trucks “trade places with the reindeer / to help Santa pull his sleigh.” Tractors, food trucks, Zambonis—they’re all here, ready for the “Truckcracker ballet” at a construction site with a decorated tree. By the end of the day, the sleepy-eyed trucks reveal themselves to be toys left under the tree by Santa (depicted as white) in a lucky child’s cozy home. Rural and urban settings, indoors and out, day and night, will encourage kids to stretch their imaginations.
For young truck enthusiasts. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-7215-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery.
A troop of cats traverse a spooky landscape as they make their way to a party hosted by ghosts.
Each double-page spread shows the felines’ encounters with the likes of an owl, jack-o’-lanterns or a bat. One or two of these creepy meetings may be too abstract for the youngest readers, as the cats hear eerie noises with no discernible source on the page. The text, which consists of one rhyming couplet per scene, mostly scans despite a couple of wobbles: “Five black cats get a bit of a scare / As the flip-flapping wings of a bat fill the air.” The sleek, slightly retro art, likely created using a computer, depicts the cats cavorting at night through a shadowy cityscape, the countryside and a haunted house; they may scare some toddlers and delight others. A brighter color palette would have given the project a friendlier, more universal appeal. Luckily, the well-lit, final party scene provides a playful conclusion.
For toddlers unafraid of typical Halloween imagery. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-58925-611-8
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
All aboard for a spooktacularly sleepy ride!
The goodnight train is back for a not-so-scary fourth installment.
The nighttime locomotive travels through an autumnal landscape that’s bursting with Halloween tropes. As in the previous stories, bed-shaped cars are hooked up for a train ride; here, three diverse children are dressed in their Halloween finest as a skeleton, a princess, and a bee. Fans of the series will find the usual perks of a solid rhyme scheme, additional words and sounds peppering the illustrations, and pages of yawning creatures signaling that it’s time for bed. Those unfamiliar with the series will also find the book amusing, but readers who really love Halloween—or spooky things like bats, ghosts, and black cats—will enjoy it the most. As with the other installments in this series, educators and librarians will find this useful for seasonal book displays and storytimes but will probably keep it out year-round because it checks many of the boxes that signal a solid addition to any board-book library. Die-cut circles of various sizes are sprinkled across the double-page spreads, giving caregivers a chance to test young readers’ predictive skills while providing small hints at what’s to come. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
All aboard for a spooktacularly sleepy ride! (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-3586-2607-7
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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