by Jon Scieszka & illustrated by David Gordon ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 3, 2008
This weak title, one in an early-reader series that’s part of Scieszka’s Trucktown brand, purports to provide active children with a similarly rambunctious easy-to-read package. Scieszka’s author’s note for the series boasts, “Everything about Trucktown has been built to excite and motivate young readers…This is…a world where kids are inspired to become readers by action stories, and helped to become readers with amazing illustrations and selected vocabulary.” The result falls far short of such claims. Two trucks, Jack and Gabriella, follow a succession of legit and spoof road signs to a party at bulldozer Pete’s garage. Three illustrators, including David Shannon and Loren Long as well as Gordon, collaborated to create Trucktown’s unremarkable, stereotypical visuals. Jack is a sturdy red-and-blue flatbed, while Gabriella’s a pink garbage truck with a flowery monogrammed and a yellow “bow.” Typical visual personification for the vehicles—headlights are eyes; grilles are mouths—and muddy digital execution add little that’s fresh. Also out in June: Zoom! Boom! Bully (ISBN: 978-1-4169-4139-2; PLB: 978-1-4169-4150-7). For emergent readers, more hype than help. (Early reader. 4-6)
Pub Date: June 3, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4169-4138-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2008
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by Mark Haddon & illustrated by Peter Sutton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 15, 2003
Joe and his mum and dad are vacationing at the Ocean Star Hotel. At first the weather is perfect; Joe gets to learn to swim and visit the boardwalk. The sixth day dawns foggy and rainy and Joe, who looks to be about five, quickly becomes bored. The hotel’s owner, Mr. Robertson, offers Joe a trip around the world. After expressing disbelief, Joe follows Mr. Robertson up to the attic and enters the world of the Ocean Star Express. Mr. Robertson’s miniature train set travels from room to room in the attic, and each new room is a different environment: snow-capped mountains, camel-filled deserts, lighthouse by the sea. They paint a figurine to look like Joe and then place it on the train. When they go downstairs, the rain has stopped. Even after the vacation is over, Joe rides the Ocean Star Express in his dreams. Haddon has created a sweet and simple story that young train enthusiasts will enjoy. They will likely identify with Joe and get into the illustrations of the Express in its many different rooms. However, the text may be too long and lack the pep some of the youngest train lovers demand. Sutton’s illustrations are similar to Christian Birmingham’s from Haddon’s Sea of Tranquility (1996). They are soft, almost nostalgic, but realistic and some feature a giant-seeming Joe behind the scenery. Purchase multiple copies if you’ve got demand—the paperback binding is strong, but won’t hold up like a hardcover. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2003
ISBN: 0-00-664600-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins UK/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2003
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by Debora Pearson & illustrated by Edward Miller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2003
Pearson takes fledgling readers out for a spin with this alphabet of trucks and traffic signs. Miller illustrates them all, Ambulance to Zamboni, with clean-lined, brightly colored roadscapes well stocked with angular vehicles—themselves stocked with a diverse cast of smiling drivers and passengers. With verbal imagery as bright as the art—“Tt is for Tow Truck. It goes fishing for cars with its giant hook, reeling them up and dragging them off”—plus ranked lines of common signs on the endpapers and several keepsakes available for downloading on Miller’s Web site, this is one ride on which children aren’t going to whine, “Are we there yet?” (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-8234-1722-0
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2003
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