Who cares? The equation of trucks + bedtime book = best-seller, even if it does set feminism back a few decades.
A group of construction vehicles put themselves to bed.
Rhyming couplets set the scene (“The sun has set, the work is done; / It’s time for trucks to end their fun”) and then describe their bedtime routines, truck by truck. The crane sets one last beam before settling in, a star-shaped nightlight suspended from his lowered mast and a teddy bear clutched in his stabilizing arms. The cement mixer is hosed down before giving into slumber beneath a much-too-small polka-dot blanket. The dump truck deposits one last load before conking out next to heaps of rubble. As depicted by Lichtenheld, the trucks all have googly windshield eyes and grins that more or less correspond to grilles. They look a lot like Disney Pixar’s Cars, but there are only so many ways to anthropomorphize a truck. He exerts his artistry in other ways; the dump truck’s snores, depicted as a rising stream of ever larger Z’s, float into the night, becoming part of the steel framework of the building under construction. Rinker’s verse does not always scan well, but it is rhythmic enough to carry readers along. It is a real shame that not a single one of these muscular vehicles is female; this employer is clearly not interested in equal opportunity.
Who cares? The equation of trucks + bedtime book = best-seller, even if it does set feminism back a few decades. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: May 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8118-7782-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2014
PERSPECTIVES
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...
A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.
A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Pick this delightful story for a Christmas storytime, for library collections, or for family reading around the Christmas...
A family of four buys a cut pine tree, takes it home, and, with the help of friends, decorates it for their Christmas tree.
The family drives to a tree lot, selects a tree, and takes it home on top of their car. The mother, the father, and their two children set up the tree, with the mother using a saw to trim the tree trunk. Boxes of decorations are brought in, and then friends arrive for a decorating party. When all the decorations are in place, the page turn reveals the completed tree in all its glory. That illustration is printed in landscape format across the double-page spread, so the book must be rotated 90 degrees to emphasize the tree’s height, a clever and surprising feature. The family’s interracial, with a white dad and black-haired, brown-skinned mom. Other characters at the tree lot and the party include people of different ethnicities. The short, rhyming text has a bouncy, appealing tone, with four brief lines of text per page. Delightful mixed-media illustrations use a flattened perspective, simple shapes, and glowing, light-filled backgrounds for a fresh take on the tree-decorating tradition. The illustrations are all in double-page-spread format with compositions that will work well for reading to a group or with just one child in a lap.
Pick this delightful story for a Christmas storytime, for library collections, or for family reading around the Christmas tree. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9571-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
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