FIRE TRUCK DREAMS

Chriscoe and Mottram continue their series of books about sleep-bound vehicles with a look at the greatest of all emergency trucks.

After a long day of kitten rescues and brush fires, a fully anthropomorphized and quite sleepy fire truck makes his way home. After a routine check to make sure all is well in town, he has a shower, fills his tummy at the Swish and Swig, and checks out a book from the Rescue Readers Library. Once he falls asleep, a dream ensues, in which he douses out a campfire and enjoys a parade in his honor. A hint of melancholy accompanies the truck’s dreams, as the adulation of the dream crowds is starkly contrasted with the fire truck’s waking life, alone and unheralded save for the presence of his faithful dog. The book deviates not a jot from the pre-established formula begun with Race Car Dreams (2016) and continued through Bulldozer Dreams (2017). Humans appear only in the dream sequence, while the autonomous truck takes care of its own needs. Digital art reflects the shifting shades of evening, continuing even through the dream.

In a teeming sea of fire-truck books, this little sleeper won’t create much of a blip on the sonar.