Don’t duck this picture book.
A story with limited text, nearly unlimited trucks, a picnicking goose, and a bevy of adorable animals.
Sauer embeds bespectacled Goose’s picnic to-do list into the copyright-page illustration: “Choose picnic spot. / Pack a big lunch. / Take everything I need.” Otherwise, the text is mostly limited to repetitions of the word “Truck” with the occasional “Goose!” in emulation of the familiar children’s game. The picnic spot Goose chooses is on a grassy area at the center of a nearby traffic circle, and Goose comically takes three cartloads of supplies from home, including a big red piano. Various kinds of trucks driven by other anthropomorphic animals drive around the circle while Goose plods along with his loads, but the “Truck… / Truck… / Truck…” traffic halts when the red piano falls into the road. Goose seems unbothered and sets up a picnic, donning headphones and sunglasses to relax. The animal drivers, however, are frustrated by the ensuing traffic jam until a new truck affixed with a crane comes and moves it. Exultant, the animals’ joy is only heightened by the arrival of a new truck on the scene—this time an ice cream truck driven by not another Goose but “MOOSE!” Waring’s bright, digital cartoon illustrations include pleasingly rounded, expressive characters that add great humor to the text, while the illustrated trucks, unnamed by the limited text, invite identification by listeners.
Don’t duck this picture book. (Picture book. 1-4)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-242153-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires.
Little Blue Truck feels, well, blue when he delivers valentine after valentine but receives nary a one.
His bed overflowing with cards, Blue sets out to deliver a yellow card with purple polka dots and a shiny purple heart to Hen, one with a shiny fuchsia heart to Pig, a big, shiny, red heart-shaped card to Horse, and so on. With each delivery there is an exchange of Beeps from Blue and the appropriate animal sounds from his friends, Blue’s Beeps always set in blue and the animal’s vocalization in a color that matches the card it receives. But as Blue heads home, his deliveries complete, his headlight eyes are sad and his front bumper droops ever so slightly. Blue is therefore surprised (but readers may not be) when he pulls into his garage to be greeted by all his friends with a shiny blue valentine just for him. In this, Blue’s seventh outing, it’s not just the sturdy protagonist that seems to be wilting. Schertle’s verse, usually reliable, stumbles more than once; stanzas such as “But Valentine’s Day / didn’t seem much fun / when he didn’t get cards / from anyone” will cause hitches during read-alouds. The illustrations, done by Joseph in the style of original series collaborator Jill McElmurry, are pleasant enough, but his compositions often feel stiff and forced.
Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-27244-1
Page Count: 20
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.
You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!
What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn’t see them all along. Of course, a “lazy turtle” meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a “SLOW-VAL.” A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a “soaring bird” that meets a triangle to become a “FLY-ANGLE” to a “sleepy lion” nonagon “YAWN-AGON.” Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the “GREEN WHION” with maned head and whale’s tail made from a “blue whale and a yellow lion.” It’s a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it’s got verve. Who doesn’t want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a “CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE”?
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0534-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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