THUNDER TRUCKS

A major nighttime storm begins in a cloud-filled sky, with a group of sky-rolling trucks behind this rumbling, thundering event.

A young child just going to bed hears a grumbling, tumbling sound outside the window and imagines the noise is triggered by different work trucks. Bulldozer and Crane Truck stack the clouds high, Tanker Truck brings the rain, Fire Truck and its hoses splatter the raindrops, Dump Truck pours down hail stones, and finally Big Rig hauls “THUNDER with a BOOM BOOM BOOM!” Revving their motors, the trucks divide the thunder among themselves, doing their jobs to fill the sky with noise as the storm comes crashing down. “THUNDER TRUCKS LOUD! / THUNDER TRUCKS STRONG! / THUNDER TRUCKS THUNDERING ALL NIGHT LONG!” Once the storm settles down, the trucks line up and roll away. A satisfied child settles in for the night while toy trucks stand at attention atop the dresser. A jaunty, animated, rhyming text takes listeners through the various stages of a storm while an addendum provides basic scientific explanations of each phase. An added delight is that female trucks are equal partners in the affair, with nary an eyelash in sight on any of the digitally rendered, smiling trucks, done in primary colors that pop against the midnight blues of a dark, turbulent sky. The child presents black.

These trucks are just the ticket to chase away storm-generated nerves.