RED TRUCK, YELLOW TRUCK

Dogs and trucks and things that go.

Gentle rhyming text and simple words introduce child readers to a wide variety of vehicles, all driven by anthropomorphic dogs. “Tug truck. Tow truck. / Steady as you go, truck!” But from early on, readers will note things are amiss. The driver of a tow truck fails to notice that the car they’re moving is losing its parts. Garbage trucks hold up traffic. A truck carrying a wide load (an enormous bone) is bashing barriers. Then, in a two-page spread of catastrophe, chaos escalates, with trucks crushing cars or causing some other calamity. Fortunately, by the story’s end, problems are solved, and a new “Fun Bark” has opened. It’s refreshing to see that, unlike a large swath of truck books, particularly those guided by animals, this one dares to dive deep into a magnificent fiasco. And for those adults that will be subjected to this book regularly, hidden details may make repeated viewings easier (example: The supervisor about to be buried in dirt on one page shows up later, still on the phone but covered in muck). The cast of characters remains consistent throughout, with some given eyelashes, presumably to indicate females. All told, these dogs will give young readers something to howl about.

A delight for the youngest of truck aficionados. Go, dogs. Go!