BIG TRUCK SUPER WASH

Dirt-covered trucks head for the Big Truck SUPER Wash for a scrub.

This picture book features big-rig kid favorites like the excavator, the tractor, and the 18-wheeler, complete with the grossest of messes. These trucks have it all, from stuck-on bugs to manure. After a trip through the Big Truck SUPER Wash, they come out sparkling clean and ready for rest. The rhyming text works well for reading aloud to little listeners. The transportation-related vocabulary provides exposure to words like chrome and gleaming. Each truck explains its messy job in the first person. Detailed, colorful, and appealing illustrations show the trucks in action, earning their dirt, the front engines and grills turned into faces. A tan-skinned, mustachioed, broad-shouldered SUPER Wash worker appears throughout the book, seen on billboard ads and interacting with the trucks. Addressing the vehicles directly, the character functions as a narrator (“Here’s a rig we don’t see a lot: / Big Farm Tractor, what’s with the spots?”). All of the elements of this book come together well, and while it doesn’t stand out on overcrowded shelves of similar titles, it is sure to be enjoyed by the children who find it. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Though this tale takes readers down a road well traveled, it’s still a fun ride.