Useful for community-helpers units and fun for vehicle mavens.
Who knew that trash collection could be such a treat?
For one young brown-skinned kid, the cacophonous sound of the garbage truck approaching the house brings excitement galore. Don’t you know, “it’s GARBAGE DAY!” That means thrilling noises, lights, and shaking emanating from the truck and—even better—scrunching of the contents of the neighborhood’s trash cans. The kid’s pals aren’t immune to the high drama as they watch and listen in awe and then reenact a garbage-collecting scenario that includes assembling a toy truck and gathering assorted throwaway items. As they take in this ode to rubbish pickups, children will collect some brief tips about composting and recycling, though a scene in which kids repair and buff up items to give away is downright confusing when the implication is that they will go into the garbage truck as well. Though the text is a tad overlong, the jaunty, rollicking rhymes will keep children entertained, and they will merrily chime in with the refrain: “Hooray, it’s GARBAGE DAY!” Some number- and color-recognition cues are incorporated via text and art. Illustrations are colorful, cheery, and lively; children and sanitation workers are diverse in gender and racial presentation. A brown-skinned child wears glasses; a White-presenting kid is shown in a wheelchair. Onomatopoeic words in display type appear throughout, emphasizing the rumbling, crashing sounds the garbage truck makes.
Useful for community-helpers units and fun for vehicle mavens. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68464-114-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
There’s always room for one more good construction book: Make a spot for this one.
Sutton and Lovelock are back for more fun combining dynamic text and illustrations for little builders.
From digging the foundation’s first holes to putting on the final coat of paint, workers construct a new building from the ground up. Sutton’s rhythm and rhyming text pulsates, moving the pace along briskly. “Dig the ground. Dig the ground. / Bore down in the mud.” Onomatopoeia rounds out each stanza: “Shove the piles in one by one. / Slip! SLAP! THUD!” Bold, bright illustrations convey the scope of the effort and machinery required to lift stacks of lumber or sheets of plate glass into place. As in the team’s previous Roadwork (2008), Lovelock shows plenty of women and people of color working on the construction site. The perspective changes effectively, allowing readers to look down from above the scene or to crouch low to look up at the machines. After the final coat of paint is spread, movers start to bring in boxes of books, as the new building will be a local library: “The library’s here for everyone. / Ready…STEADY…READ!” A final page includes facts about both machines and construction workers’ special clothing.
There’s always room for one more good construction book: Make a spot for this one. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7325-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
A friendship story for the young and vicious.
The ultimate showdown gets waylaid by an inconvenient friendship.
What could be cooler than a fire truck going head-to-head with a dragon? From the title, fans of Barton’s Shark vs. Train (illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld, 2010) will be prepped for some major fire-and-water action. The three child protagonists certainly anticipate a humdinger of a battle, but unfortunately, antipathy is not on the menu. Turns out, Fire Truck and Dragon are the best of buds. Worse, they won’t even take advantage of their natural gifts. A campout sees them making shadow puppets with flashlights. A barbecue is just a chance for them to show off their “free-range potato salad” and “firehouse beans.” And don’t even bother inviting them to your birthday party, unless you just want them spinning you around before you try for the piñata. When at last the two do face off, what occurs? A staring contest. But readers shouldn’t give up hope. They haven’t seen how they say good night. Barton deftly upsets expectations, both for those familiar with his previous book and newcomers who know what “versus” means. Laughs come equally from the disappointed children in the book as well as readers’ thwarted guesses as to what is going to happen. And McCloskey’s daffy cartoons make a perfect complement to Barton’s high-wired hilarity.
A friendship story for the young and vicious. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-316-52213-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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