THE LITTLE DUMP TRUCK
by Margery Cuyler and illustrated by Bob Kolar
The titular little dump truck cheerily gives the youngest listeners the lowdown on its duties. Hard Hat Pete drives the sturdy truck through the city streets, hauling rocks and dirt to a building site where a hole is being filled. Then he waits while an excavator scoops debris for him to haul away to the landfill. While the story does not get much more involved than that, Cuyler rounds it out with lots of details: “I’m a little dump truck / turning at the light, / slowing, braking, stopping / at the building site.” With its repetitive beginning phrase and close-enough rhyming scheme, those who read this aloud may find themselves singing the verses to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot.” Kolar’s anthropomorphized vehicles will remind more than a few children of Bob the Builder, but his use of retro colors separates his trucks from their cartoon counterparts. Blocky, computer-generated art minimizes distracting details while highlighting the important identifying clues that will help preschoolers identify objects. Construction trucks for the youngest set. (Picture book. 2-5)