An inviting, accessible title for new readers.
Garland’s little red car invites children along for a ride to reading success.
Opening endpapers show an aerial view of a Levittown-like setting with a single driveway occupied by a car. The title page zooms in on this home, with the car facing the reader, its headlights like eyes and its fender a subtle smile. That expression is amplified in the closer view on the first page of the book proper, with the simple text “Car looks good.” But when the car ventures out to “go far,” it ends up becoming quite a mess after mud, smoke, and birds sully its shiny, red body. “Car does not look good now,” reads the controlled text. “Car is sad.” Happily, Car is also resourceful and heads off to a carwash. Simple lines—“Car gets wet. Splash, splash. / Car gets suds. // Car gets a rub. Mmmmmmm”—see it getting clean again. Closing endpapers picture the car driving back through the suburban neighborhood again, its bright yellow headlights echoing the lights in the houses. Digital illustrations may make some children think of Pixar’s Cars films, particularly in scenes where Car’s facial expressions are strongest and most humorous—as when the birds make their mess.
An inviting, accessible title for new readers. (Early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2598-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
Mischief and mayhem abound where sly cats are involved. Holy chisels, this is fun!
How can one naughty kitty upend an entire construction site?
Cranky the crane truck—last seen in the picture book Cranky Makes a Friend (2025)—and the other vehicles are hard at work building a new playground when they notice that things seem seriously awry. Paint cans have been knocked over, and tiny footprints are everywhere. All too soon the perpetrator, a small gray cat, makes herself known. The kitty quickly attaches herself to Cranky and causes more chaos: scratching the new beams, climbing the ladder on a newly installed slide, napping on the boxes containing the monkey bars, and, worst of all, making off with Cranky’s lunch. But when it’s clear that she enjoys Cranky’s company, our grumpy protagonist softens toward the animal (“It’s hard for me to stay cranky when there’s a purring cat on my head”) and officially dubs her “Bad Cat.” Though labeled an easy reader, this tale relies on potentially complex words such as mystery, whistle, and pickles. Nevertheless, the storyline reaps maximum fun from its adorable trickster, who believably turns Cranky’s mood around. The art remains simple and uncomplicated, reveling in Cranky’s general gloom and annoyance and Bad Cat’s playful exuberance.
Mischief and mayhem abound where sly cats are involved. Holy chisels, this is fun! (Early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9780063469099
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A picture-book favorite despite minor flaws? That’s a 10-4, good buddy.
In McCanna and Frawley’s cheery picture-book debut, miniscule vehicles drive into supersized action.
Accompanied by a bouncy rhyme, several brightly colored trucks rumble through the garden: the lead red-and-blue truck, the more feminine purple truck and the gridlock-loathing aqua truck. Though the color palette and cartoon appearance of the nameless vehicles may seem like a carbon copy of Disney’s Cars (2006), illustrator Frawley has included humorous details for each truck, giving them life beyond their big-screen predecessors. For instance, the red-and-blue truck has jaunty eyebrows created from roof lights, the purple truck’s short bursts of steam look like daisies, and the aqua truck’s expressive eyebrows are actually wiper blades. The illustrations help tell a hilarious story, most notably of a traffic jam featuring a frog, slug and worm who are clearly not amused by the crowded garden path. McCanna similarly handles the text well. The rhythmic pattern is clear, most of the rhyme is spot-on—“Teeny tiny tires. With teeny tiny treads. / Leaving teeny tiny trails between the flower beds”—and the story begs to be read aloud to a group. Typical trucker talk is included in the dialogue—“Breaker breaker, Buddy!” “What’s your twenty, Friend?”—and the lingo is explained in a short glossary at the end of the story. Though the premise is amusing, the proportion of the trucks in relation to their surroundings can be a bit inconsistent. Most images depict the trucks, which are “smaller than a dime,” as being only marginally bigger than ants and bees, yet other images portray the trucks as being much larger—almost half as long as a box of animal crackers. Nevertheless, this delightful story will charm truck-loving children.
A picture-book favorite despite minor flaws? That’s a 10-4, good buddy.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0989668811
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Bahalia Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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