MINERVA LOUISE AND THE RED TRUCK

The ever-amiable, though unworldly, Minerva Louise (Minerva Louise at the Fair, 2000, etc.) returns for more goofiness. In this latest—pegged for the very young—everyone’s favorite chicken gets to go for an unexpected ride in the bed of her favorite vehicle on the farm: a bright red pickup truck. She’s hopped up into the back of the truck and is busy having a “tea” with some overturned flowerpots, a roll of duct tape, and some old tools she has found there—no one can say Minerva Louise doesn’t have an active imagination. Suddenly the truck starts to move and she’s going for a ride. Young readers will enjoy her mistaking a swimming pool for a lake and golfers for farmers at work in their fields. Young truck lovers will be particularly taken with the bevy of construction vehicles she sees from her mobile perch, each of which looks to her like a playground toy: the cement truck a slide, the crane a swing. Minerva Louise thinks they’re pretty neat, though none quite so wonderful as her dear, red truck. Until, that is, a fire engine roars past and her affections are put to a sore test. Stoeke’s art is deceivingly and beguilingly simple, all crisp lines and suffused colors. Her text is equally simple, and equally entertaining and transporting. (Picture book. 2-5)