THE TRACTOR SQUAD

Laugh, dance, and sing along with the Tractor Squad!

This picture book features two interrelated stories; the first, “The Tractor Jig,” explores what the titular vehicles do in wintertime. Rhyming couplets, often with near rhymes, consider the possibilities. “Do they wear woolen hats, / then curl up with the cats?” Or perhaps they “practice their math / as they drive down the path?” No! Tractors have too much work to do. But once their tasks are completed, they gather their barnyard friends for a fun winter day. In an action-packed spread, the Tractor Squad and their friends chug, scoop, stomp, wiggle and giggle, and zig and zag. The directions are clear, and young readers will readily join in. Spring arrives for the second story, “Ten Busy Tractors,” and like the accident-prone monkeys that keep falling off the bed, these tractors meet with one mishap after another. The first hits a rut and breaks his wheel. The field mouse calls the farmer, who says, “Get that broken tractor back to the shed.” The countdown continues, and the remaining tractors break and soon find their way back to the shed, where their barnyard friends fix them and get them ready for the busy days ahead. Rich traditional and digital watercolor illustrations are worth lingering over, while the verse will have readers dancing and singing along.

An ideal storytime selection to help little ones get their wiggles out.