A treat for Hot Rod fans as well as lovers of trucks and carnival rides.
Hot Rod Hamster takes the fair by storm!
Hot Rod and his big bulldog buddy are headed to the fair to see Fearless Franco’s Monster Truck Mania. “Truck day, treat day, cotton-candy sweet day. / Fun day, fair day, music in the air day.” But the show is not until 3:00. What can they do in the meantime? Hamster knows: search for the perfect ride! He knows the attributes of the perfect ride. The first criterion is fun. “Sailboat, rowboat, pirates long ago boat. / Sub boat, tugboat, chugga-chugga-chug boat. / Which would you choose?” The boat ride is fun, but the perfect ride will also be fast. The teacups ride fits that bill, but the perfect ride will also let them drive. The bumper cars are pretty good, but the perfect ride will go up in the air. Bulldog goes to save their seats for the monster-truck show while Hot Rod gets some cotton candy…where he hears that Fearless Franco can’t drive since he broke his glasses. Now who do you think would like to drive a monster truck? Lord and Anderson reteam for a third fun-filled, rhythmic jaunt with Hot Rod and his friends (Happy Birthday, Hamster, 2011, etc.). Returning to what he loves best—things that GO!—Anderson’s bright-eyed, expressive acrylics extend Lord’s enthusiastic rhyming tale to perfection.
A treat for Hot Rod fans as well as lovers of trucks and carnival rides. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-46261-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends.
Is it a stormy-night scare or a bedtime book? Both!
Little Blue Truck and his good friend Toad are heading home when a storm lets loose. Before long, their familiar, now very nervous barnyard friends (Goat, Hen, Goose, Cow, Duck, and Pig) squeeze into the garage. Blue explains that “clouds bump and tumble in the sky, / but here inside we’re warm and dry, / and all the thirsty plants below / will get a drink to help them grow!” The friends begin to relax. “Duck said, loud as he could quack it, / ‘THUNDER’S JUST A NOISY RACKET!’ ” In the quiet after the storm, the barnyard friends are sleepy, but the garage is not their home. “ ‘Beep!’ said Blue. ‘Just hop inside. / All aboard for the bedtime ride!’ ” Young readers will settle down for their own bedtimes as Blue and Toad drop each friend at home and bid them a good night before returning to the garage and their own beds. “Blue gave one small sleepy ‘Beep.’ / Then Little Blue Truck fell fast asleep.” Joseph’s rich nighttime-blue illustrations (done “in the style of [series co-creator] Jill McElmurry”) highlight the power of the storm and capture the still serenity that follows. Little Blue Truck has been chugging along since 2008, but there seems to be plenty of gas left in the tank.
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-85213-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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