An irresistible presentation of unconditional love.
Big Truck reassures Little Truck as they prepare for bedtime.
As night falls, Little Truck, a small red pickup, poses different scenarios that might make Big Truck’s love waver. Each time, Big Truck explains that their love will never flag. Little Truck asks, “What if I were a big mixing truck? / I might get cemented. / I might get all stuck!” Big Truck replies, “Yes, problems aren’t fun. / But I’ll solve them with you, / each time, one by one.” And so the two continue, Big Truck comforting Little Truck through each concern. In a real tug of the heartstrings, eventually Little Truck wonders what will happen if they are ever apart. Big Truck replies, “there isn’t a distance / …That love cannot reach.” The rhyming text hits just the right rhythm and pace, reading like a lullaby and lending itself well to read-alouds. The illustrations are charming, all soft colors and rounded edges. Big Truck and Little Truck have simple expressions on their windshield faces and wheels that serve as limbs. Like Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd’s The Runaway Bunny (1942) and others before it, this is a heartwarming proclamation of love in all its forms between a caregiver and a child. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An irresistible presentation of unconditional love. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-63819-083-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Bushel & Peck Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s nothing new, but it’s also clearly heartfelt.
A love song from parents to their child.
This title will seem quite similar to the many others about parents’ deep love for their children. The text is wholly composed of first-person declarations of parental love, and it’s juxtaposed with illustrations of the child with one or both parents. It’s not always clear who the “I” speaking is, and there are a few pages that instead use “we.” Most sentences begin with “I love you more” phrasing to communicate that nothing could undermine parental love: “I love you more than all the sleepless nights…and all the early, tired mornings.” The accompanying pictures depict the child as a baby with weary parents. Later spreads show the child growing up, and the phrasing shifts away from the challenges of parenting to its joys and to attempts to quantify love: “I love you more than all the blades of grass at the park…and all the soccer that we played.” Throughout, Bell’s illustrations use pastel tones and soft visual texture to depict cozy, wholesome scenes that are largely redundant of the straightforward, warm text. They feature a brown-haired family with a mother, father, and child, who all appear to be white (though the father has skin that’s a shade darker than the others’).
It’s nothing new, but it’s also clearly heartfelt. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0652-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
This TV rerun in board-book form has nothing new to offer.
Peppa hopes to join her classmates in a Halloween pumpkin competition in this adaptation of a story from the popular British television program Peppa Pig.
With the help of Granny and Grandpa Pig, Peppa turns her giant pumpkin, which is the size of a compact car, into a jack-o’-lantern. The trio is flummoxed when it comes time to transport the pumpkin to the competition, so they call on Miss Rabbit and her helicopter to airlift the pumpkin to the festivities as Peppa and her grandparents ride inside. Peppa arrives just in time for the contest and wins the prize for best flying pumpkin. The scenes look as if they are pulled directly from the television show, right down to the rectangular framing of some of the scenes. While the story is literally nothing new, the text is serviceable, describing the action in two to three sentences per page. The pumpkin-shaped book and orange foil cover will likely attract youngsters, whether they are Peppa fans or not.
This TV rerun in board-book form has nothing new to offer. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: July 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-33922-2
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
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