TIP TIP DIG DIG

A colorful tour through a variety of construction vehicles. The expanse of brown ground is a mess; “What can we do with it?” Out comes a series of trucks to do the job: digger, mixer, crane, dump truck, bulldozer, road roller. Each gets a two-page spread, with its job told in giant letters, in triplicate—“LIFT, LIFT, LIFT,” for example. Garcia depicts these vehicles in a spectrum of bold colors, and each appears to be a mixed-media collage, the pieces so thickly painted as to look three-dimensional. All this work on the grim brown landscape turns it into a beautiful playground, with flowers, a tire swing, a sandbox and so forth. With its arresting design and simple repetition, Garcia’s bright book is perfectly pitched to its target audience, who will really dig it. (Picture book. 2-5)