Truck enthusiasts will wheely groove on this story of a truck Superman.
An adventure-loving truck discovers an alter ego when his boss demands a trip through the car wash.
Clarence is an old-fashioned–looking pickup truck with wooden rails, but his most obvious characteristic is that he’s filthy. Even an imminent thunderstorm won’t clean him off, but a lightning strike may have something to do with his transformation—when he drives away, he is gleaming, feeling “really wheely powerful,” and unrecognizable to his co-workers. Indeed, the shiny red monster truck with “MT” emblazoned on the side and huge tires is a far cry from the dirty pickup of the beginning. But truck lovers won’t care, as underdog Clarence proceeds to rescue truck-friend Bruno from the mud, a cat from a tree, and a line of traffic from a beam teetering on a high-rise under construction, each daring superhero feat cementing his new identity as Mighty Truck. By the end, he’s dirty again, but he won’t share his secret—who wants to miss all the fun that comes with getting dirty when getting clean is “only a wash away”? Cummings’ Photoshop illustrations emphasize textures: dirt in all its forms—the dirt covering the trucks, the dirt in the tire treads, mud—the sheen of windows and chrome, the roughness of asphalt. Readers may remark on the unfairness of Clarence’s having to wash when Bruno is just as dirty, though.
Truck enthusiasts will wheely groove on this story of a truck Superman. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234478-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Toad and Little Blue Truck get ready for a hayride.
After the titular vehicle is loaded with hay, Toad is nowhere to be found. “Beep! Beep! Beep! Where are you, Toad?” asks Little Blue Truck. All the barnyard animals look for him. Sheep searches the meadow. Goose and Duck check the pond. Others pitch in, too, but Toad seems to have disappeared…until Hen hears snoring coming from the pile of hay in the back of Little Blue Truck. Although the text’s scansion is imperfect in places (adults may want to pre-read to ensure a smooth read-aloud), the bouncy meter and rhyming text nevertheless capture the energy of the search and the farmyard community’s concern for Toad’s safety, making this a solid storytime choice. Eye-catching illustrations with rich, fully saturated colors balance the right level of detail while still highlighting the animal that is the focus of each verse. By introducing one farm animal at a time, Schertle also helps the youngest readers begin to identify barnyard animals by name and understand their unique farm homes. Traditional animal sounds are part of the text, and listeners will add them to their vocabulary. It all ends with the promised hayride, bringing the tale to a joyous ending.
Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2026
ISBN: 9780063436121
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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