Small truck fans will be riveted by these huge popup trucks: a pick-up bounces along over a bumpy road; a bright purple semi- grinds to a halt with clouds of steam shooting out from under the hood; a tow truck’s crane prepares to hook it up; a fire truck’s ladder rears up; a yellow dump truck drops its load. Stickland (Ten Terrible Dinosaurs, 1997, etc) sticks largely to front-end, low-angle views, so that the trucks seem to loom up from the page, leaving the rhymed phrases that serve as captions nearly hidden. “Green Means Go / Start Off Slow.” Drivers are young and old, male and female, with one or two darker-skin faces to add to the diversity. There are no fancy or multiple effects here (unless you count the moving truck parts) just straight-ahead, crowd-pleasing traffic. (Picture book/popup. 4-6)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-929927-03-7
Page Count: 14
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
A glory ride for young car, truck, train, bus and trolley devotees.
In a visual feast for fans of wheeled vehicles large and small, Biggs presents a series of high-density street scenes done in an amiably rumpled cartoon style.
Driving in from the ’burbs to a generic metropolis, a lad and his dad gloss each big, double-page spread—“ ‘Do trucks work the same way as cars?’ / ‘Many of them do. Trucks also have jobs, like cars’ ”—as they glide through heavy traffic, past a construction site and under an elevated highway. They wait for fleets of bikes and motorcycles to pass and park at last near a train station to pick up Mom. Along with sparely labeled close-up or cutaway views of a car, a bicycle, a big truck, a subway station, an RV and other specimens, the author sets up the family reunion at the end with a giant double-gatefold aerial view of an entire neighborhood packed with traffic, pedestrians, local businesses and signs, each one individually distinct. Jokey side conversations (one firefighter tells another, "There's no fire. It's just a cat"; his companion asks, "Should we get some milk?") play off more serious and informative dialogue. A diagram of a car is accompanied by a disquisition on the relationship between a car battery and the motor, as well as the fact that "[a]n electric car uses batteries and electric motor. No gas!"
A glory ride for young car, truck, train, bus and trolley devotees. (Informational picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-195809-0
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Required reading for both plane-iacs and any first-time flier.
For young fans of things with wings, another oversized visual riot from the creator of Everything Goes: On Land (2011).
Following a departing family as it wends its way through a teeming airport, Biggs doesn’t just confine himself to winged aircraft—covering instead the entire history of flight from the Wright Brothers on. Topical spreads are filled edge to edge with early airplanes, modern working planes of various designs, helicopters, gliders, blimps and balloons. Knowing just how much visual busyness to pack into each bright cartoon scene without turning it into a confusing jumble, he also offers alternate spreads a-bustle with activity. Passengers wheel luggage through a concourse, undress to various degrees at a security station (“NOPE” flashes the red sign over the gate as a peg-legged pirate tries to pass), board a jetliner (later seen in a cutaway view) and taxi out to the runway for a climactic double-gatefold takeoff. Along with identifying labels, viewers inclined to take closer looks will be rewarded by the sight of five rug rats leading a harried mom on a merry chase, birds with or without jaunty hats, at least one personal cameo of the artist and other diversions.
Required reading for both plane-iacs and any first-time flier. (Informational picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-195810-6
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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