THE GRUMPY DUMP TRUCK

Bertrand is a mean, crabby, grumpy dump truck who sees nothing good about his job. While all the other workers and trucks try to get along and make the best of things, Bertrand just complains and makes their lives more difficult. One day Bertrand surprises Tilly the porcupine, who loses her quills and accidentally pierces Bertrand’s tire. Ever friendly and helpful even in the face of Bertrand’s rage, Tilly pulls out the quill…and a wrench, screwdriver, level, saw, traffic cone and a hammer. Once unburdened, suddenly Bertrand isn’t so grumpy anymore. Spangler’s brightly colored digital illustrations are done in a graphic format, with speech bubbles, sound effects and simple pictures that keep the focus on the facial expressions. Construction trucks, equipment and workers are well represented. While slight and with an implausibly pat ending (how’d all that stuff get into his tire in the first place?), this does point out to children that there is always a reason behind a bad mood, although it is rather short on methods of dealing with the grumps—one’s own or someone else’s. (Picture book. 3-6)