A deserving if not divine little book, worthy of its pint-sized enthusiasts
Clearly The Little Dump Truck (2009) and The Little School Bus (2014) were just the prelude to Cuyler and Kolar’s most ambitious project yet.
“Perky” would not be a poor way of describing the little fire truck that shuttles its white driver, Jill, and her racially diverse fire crew all over town. Each rhyming stanza, one per spread, begins with the line “I’m a little fire truck” then proceeds in a standard abcb rhyme scheme. After rescuing a cat, the firefighters must contend with a burning building. Happily it just takes a couple “splish-splosh” squirts of the fire hose to put everything right. Aimed at toddlers and younger preschoolers, the art proves to be just as simple as the text. The digital illustrations keep the color bright, the anthropomorphized truck perky, and the situations shy of scary. Cuyler even opts to ensure that the burning building is pet- and baby-free. When it comes to true firefighting enthusiasts, more is always better, hence the endpapers’ impressive (not to mention diverse and gender-inclusive) visual dictionary of terms. (Front and rear are identical.) Alas, no fire-safety tips are included aside from the visual image of Jill and crew crawling along the floor, so continue to turn to Mike Austin’s Fire Engine No. 9 (2015) as the industry standard.
A deserving if not divine little book, worthy of its pint-sized enthusiasts . (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62779-805-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
Lucky indeed are the kids who get to indulge in this splendid little wish-fulfillment daydream.
A delightful ode to trucks goes above and beyond the usual churning, wrecking, and pounding.
Cheery rhyming text declares from the first page, “At 2, when I could reach the seat, / I taught myself to make concrete.” And we’re off! Accompanied by a pig, turtle, and penguin, a small, hard-hatted white child recounts driving just about every truck, machine, and tractor imaginable. From backhoes to snowplows, the child and faithful animal crew are in every cab or assisting on the ground. All the favorites are here (bulldozer, dump truck, 18-wheeler, etc.), with some mechanical monsters lauded less often in books of this sort (hay baler, combine harvester, earthmover, etc.). By the end, the trucks are revealed to be mere toys, but a flash-forward to the future shows, “When I grow up…you know wassup. / With any luck, I’ll drive a truck.” Friend’s rhymes produce a one-of-a-kind mighty litany of machines. These words pair neatly with Rex’s art; his cartoonish style renders each vehicle with a meticulousness that will meet the approval of even the strictest vehicle enthusiast.
Lucky indeed are the kids who get to indulge in this splendid little wish-fulfillment daydream. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16956-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
“Hooray! Hooray!” (Picture book. 2-5)
Following Fire Engine No. 9 (2015), Austin looks at maritime emergency vehicles.
In Austin’ s second No. 9 book, the youngest readers find a gripping, exciting ocean rescue conducted by a mixed-race, mixed-gender team using intriguing vehicles and tools: helicopter and boat, with assists from the lighthouse and trucks on the dock. The crew seems to be going through its ordinary duties when the weather changes and a distress call comes in. The text is minimal: words repeat and appear in typeface that increases in size to convey urgency: “MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! // GO! GO! GO!” Bold, graphically splashy artwork captures the stormy, swelling sea and the rescue in motion. A sailboat has crashed against rocks with a sailor and dog onboard. Dramatic tension is heightened when horizontal scenes switch to vertical when the helicopter drops the Billy Pugh basket to pick up the stranded boaters. Never heard that term before? Don’t worry: endpapers feature the pieces of equipment and their names. All’s well that ends well. The squad gets the duo safely to shore as the sun comes out. An endnote includes tips for caregivers on water safety, and readers already savvy about the subject will be pleased to see that both the sailor and the dog are wearing life jackets.
“Hooray! Hooray!” (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93662-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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