LITTLE TRUCKS WITH BIG JOBS

Small trucks accomplish Herculean tasks with aplomb and finesse. Maass’s collection includes those weird, flat vehicles towing jumbo jets to the runway and the street sweeper that satisfies one’s sense of urban bien-être. There’s the phone truck, which, perhaps even more than the ambulance, keeps us alive in our brave new electronic world; the garbage truck protecting the everyday from becoming a toxic miasma; the Zamboni that cleans the ice for the players; and the mail truck that delivers the birthday invitations, glad tidings and grim repercussions. And, of course, there’s the ice-cream truck—really, who doesn’t like to see that dispenser of all things good (except, perhaps, its neverending, chiming ditty). In a simple exposition, Maass provides a full-color photograph set opposite large-font text that offers a very brief description of the role each plays, demonstrating convincingly that small is beautiful, even for truck lovers. (Picture book. 4-7)