A small pick-up truck suffers separation anxiety in this tale for fans of Little Toot, Katy, and other animated work machines. Little Truck happily tags along behind Big Truck, helping to haul farm produce to market over a busy highway and doing other tasks. Then Big Truck overstrains himself while moving a fallen tree and has to be towed to the shop, leaving Little Truck to shoulder the work. Both rumpled-looking trucks sport expressive headlight eyes and radiator mouths—and opaque windshields, so though they have human helpers to load and unload them, they seem to drive themselves. Gradually, remembering Big Truck’s instructions about highway driving and getting out of muddy patches, Little Truck begins to lose his apprehension and by the end is ready to welcome Big Truck back with pride and joy. The characters, situations, and art hark back to an antique picture-book tradition, but children of any generation will understand Little Truck’s feelings. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-439-07177-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2000
Afflicted with three bossy big sisters, Shelly stays inside his shell—literally so in Francis’s lighthearted illustrations, which feature a family of ducklings in human dress and surroundings—until they give up badgering him to do the sorts of things that they like to do. Having failed to get him to dance, paint or play outside, Adelaide, Miranda and Tallulah declare that he’s just not ready, and skip off—whereupon Shelly climbs out of his eggshell for a game of Go Fish with his plush bunny, and other quiet pursuits. Closer in spirit and theme to Eve Merriam’s Unhurry Harry (1978), illustrated by Gail Owens, than to Robert Kraus’s Leo the Late Bloomer (1971), illustrated by Jose Aruego, this should strike a chord with all young children afflicted with pushy brothers and sisters—and might make salutary reading for the siblings, too. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-525-47565-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2005
Bunting’s story of an island-dwelling mouse is a tale of longing written with great flair, but it is also a bit perplexing. “Mouse lived alone on an island,” it begins. Shortly thereafter, readers learn that “mouse wondered why he wasn’t the most contented mouse on earth.” Mouse might be clueless, but even the youngest readers will be hip to the problem. As Mouse attends to his daily rounds of the island—“Mouse tiptoed among the tide pools, nibbling the soft-bellied sea things”—sea lions honk to him from the beach and Herring Gull drops in for a visit, extending an invitation to see the world. So friends are available. Maybe Mouse needs more than friends; maybe Mouse needs a mate. Yet, the half-drowned furry thing he rescues from a shipwreck isn’t another mouse. It’s a cat. Mating is out, though friendship is in after initial misunderstandings are tidied up: “I would never eat you . . . I am an honorable cat and I have an obligation.” Cat even teaches Mouse how to play beach volleyball. But aren’t sea lions renowned ball handlers? Why didn’t they teach Mouse? Still, much pleasure can be found in Bunting’s melodious prose—“He saw whales passing, their white breaths smoking against the sky”—as well as Catalano’s lovely pastels. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59078-447-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2008
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