Despite its emphasis on friendship, this muddied story with its awkward puns doesn’t become greater than the sum of its...
A superhero truck? Just what the world needs!
Many young kids love superheroes and trucks and getting dirty, so what could be better than a picture book that glorifies all three? Clarence, a rather ordinary-looking dirty pickup truck, and Bruno, a nattier-looking cement mixer, are best friends, but readers soon learn that with a quick wash job, Clarence turns into the bright red Mighty Truck. Mighty Truck is supposed to keep his identity secret, but when faced with a perilous emergency at Muddymania, held in Axleburg Arena, he has to make a quick decision. Can he use his superpowers (without revealing his secret identity) to prevent exhausted Flo, the watering truck who has created all the mud for the special event, from crashing haphazardly into the all-truck crowd? Like a four-wheeled Jimmy Olsen, Bruno forges ahead, and Clarence, aka Mighty Truck, must follow. The rescue is accomplished, but Bruno learns the secret. The bromance is sealed, but is there a whiff of old-fashioned anti-feminism in the air? Why is it Flo, the female truck, who must be rescued? Most kids won’t care, and the Adobe Photoshop digital illustrations are full of all kinds of moving vehicles with faces, resembling childhood favorites like Little Toot and Thomas the Tank Engine.
Despite its emphasis on friendship, this muddied story with its awkward puns doesn’t become greater than the sum of its parts. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-234479-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
Clever inspiration for bold-hearted storytellers.
Get comfy! This storyteller has just the right tale.
A beige-skinned elflike protagonist sits in the dark by a small fire and invites readers to listen to “THE GREATEST BEDTIME STORY EVER.” Quickly, we flash back to a scene of the elf, in pursuit of literary inspiration, foolishly following an eerie sound to a cave. There, our hero meets a fire-breathing dragon who is unable to sleep without a snack. Fearing the worst (the dragon is eyeing the elf hungrily), the elf offers to tell a bedtime story instead. After the narrator writes and illustrates a story and then reads it aloud, the dragon falls asleep. On the verge of escape, the storyteller suddenly comes to a horrible realization: “I had left behind the Greatest Bedtime Story Ever!” Returning for it, the protagonist steps on a bone, awakens the dragon, and is devoured by the creature. We never do learn what was in the tale told to the dragon, but the one the elf relates is absorbing, an entertaining metafictional riff on the challenges of storytelling. The abrupt conclusion may disturb more sensitive youngsters, but many will find it great fun—they’ll enjoy rereads knowing that the protagonist is narrating from the belly of the beast. Sima’s appealing digital art slyly alternates sweetness (the dragon clutching a plush toy while listening to the story) with tension and even scares (a close-up of that toothy dragon maw).
Clever inspiration for bold-hearted storytellers. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 9, 2026
ISBN: 9781665974523
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
Take strength from the dreamers before you and follow your dreams. Or maybe just roll the dice.
Is it a book about aspirations or the backstory for the board game?
Chickapig is defined as “an animal hybrid that is half-chicken and half-pig” and is depicted in yellow, two-legged chick shape with pink pig snout and ears. Young Joe Chickapig lives on a farm that was his grandfather’s dream, but it’s getting Joe down. He dreams of adventure but needs the “courage to follow his heart. / But how could he do it? How could he start?” In a bedtime story, Joe’s mother shares the influential characters that helped Joe’s sailor grandfather “follow his heart against the tide.” It seems that “Grandpa had heard a story told / Of a great big bear who broke the mold. / The bear was tired of striking fear”—so he became a forest doctor and a friend to all. And the bear’s inspiration? “A mouse who went to space.” The mouse, in turn, found hope in a “fierce young dragon” who joined a rock band. And coming full circle, the dragon found courage from a Chickapig warrior who “tired of shields and swords to wield” and established a farm. Chickapig game fans will appreciate this fanciful rhyming tale illustrated in attention-grabbing colors, but readers coming to it cold will note a distinct absence of plot. Mouse and dragon present female; all others are male.
Take strength from the dreamers before you and follow your dreams. Or maybe just roll the dice. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7944-4452-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Printers Row
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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