Labeling everything from the dirt hopper to the safety light, the endpapers set the stage with basic blueprints of the street sweeper. “The biggest, fastest, most powerful truck . . . is not the street sweeper.” So it begins, and in spare words, spends the next several pages detailing what this machine isn’t by contrasting it with other work vehicles. The bulldozer pushes things out of the way while the sweeper must go around; the electromagnetic crane can pick up two-ton automobiles, but the sweeper can pick up, well, a gum wrapper; and the sweeper can only squirt a small puddle of water compared to the tons of concrete a boom pump can jet. The reader’s heart softens towards this underdog until reminded that the street sweeper, too, has a very specialized and unique job. The illustrations deliver creamy colors corralled by clean lines. The vehicles are drawn within uncluttered landscapes and all driven by wee animals that care for them with pride. In this little delight, Moore honors the common, but far from average, making even the most ordinary seem extraordinary. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-8050-7789-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
While it’s cute and will help to complete vehicle lovers’ collections, this package doesn’t do much to address school fears...
Rhyming verses stretch out the job of a school bus to 12 spreads.
Driving down the road, picking up kids and dropping them off, visiting the mechanic, operating the wheelchair platform and going around a bend are a few of the things the yellow vehicle does in the job it so obviously loves, as evidenced by its smiling bumper, cheerful eyes and pink cheeks—all vehicle parts. Each verse starts with “I’m a little school bus,” so readers (especially those reading aloud) will be hard-pressed not to try to force the rhymes into the tune for “I’m a Little Teapot.” Some work better than others, both at fitting the tune and scanning well. “I’m a little school bus / waiting by the walk. / Boys and girls climb on, / sit and laugh and talk.” Kolar’s digital illustrations are cartoon-bright, the people are nicely diverse, and there’s not a grumpy face to be found. Oddly, the creators choose not to focus on a single day; the illustrations go from skirt- and shorts-clad children to a snow day and back to T-shirts in just three spreads. There’s not much on bus safety (save lining up to get on and don’t put your hands out the windows), and the pictures never show the inside of the bus.
While it’s cute and will help to complete vehicle lovers’ collections, this package doesn’t do much to address school fears or preparedness in the preschool audience it appears to be aimed at. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 24, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9435-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
Smoother rides are out there.
Mommy and Bonnie—two anthropomorphic rodents—go for a joyride and notice a variety of conveyances around their busy town.
The pair encounter 22 types of vocational vehicles as they pass various sites, including a fire engine leaving a firehouse, a school bus approaching a school, and a tractor trailer delivering goods to a supermarket. Narrated in rhyming quatrains, the book describes the jobs that each wheeled machine does. The text uses simple vocabulary and sentences, with sight words aplenty. Some of the rhymes don't scan as well as others, and the description of the mail truck’s role ("A mail truck brings / letters and cards / to mailboxes / in people's yards) ignores millions of readers living in yardless dwellings. The colorful digitally illustrated spreads are crowded with animal characters of every type hustling and bustling about. Although the art is busy, observant viewers may find humor in details such as a fragile item falling out of a moving truck, a line of ducks holding up traffic, and a squirrel’s spilled ice cream. For younger children enthralled by vehicles, Sally Sutton’s Roadwork (2011) and Elizabeth Verdick’s Small Walt series provide superior text and art and kinder humor. Children who have little interest in cars, trucks, and construction equipment may find this offering a yawner. Despite being advertised as a beginner book, neither text nor art recommend this as an engaging choice for children starting to read independently. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Smoother rides are out there. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-37725-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
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