I LOVE YOU, LITTLE TRUCK

Big Truck reassures Little Truck as they prepare for bedtime.

As night falls, Little Truck, a small red pickup, poses different scenarios that might make Big Truck’s love waver. Each time, Big Truck explains that their love will never flag. Little Truck asks, “What if I were a big mixing truck? / I might get cemented. / I might get all stuck!” Big Truck replies, “Yes, problems aren’t fun. / But I’ll solve them with you, / each time, one by one.” And so the two continue, Big Truck comforting Little Truck through each concern. In a real tug of the heartstrings, eventually Little Truck wonders what will happen if they are ever apart. Big Truck replies, “there isn’t a distance / …That love cannot reach.” The rhyming text hits just the right rhythm and pace, reading like a lullaby and lending itself well to read-alouds. The illustrations are charming, all soft colors and rounded edges. Big Truck and Little Truck have simple expressions on their windshield faces and wheels that serve as limbs. Like Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd’s The Runaway Bunny (1942) and others before it, this is a heartwarming proclamation of love in all its forms between a caregiver and a child. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An irresistible presentation of unconditional love.