A good reminder for adults that giving instructions is an art and that mistakes will be made from time to time (and that...
A brightly striped cement mixer tries to do the job right on its first day, with mixed results.
Three confident-looking trucks are going about their jobs: “The crane was lifting. The dump truck was dumping. The digger was digging.” When the cement mixer asks “How can I help?” the trucks reply, “Mix up some powdery white cement.” Off goes the protagonist to mix white powder and water in its own jauntily striped red-and-white barrel. The result? An enormous three-layer cake. “You got mixed up,” the trucks say, not unkindly, and repeat their instructions. The next white-powder mix: frosting. When at last the mix of white powder and water yields the expected cement—a building!—all the trucks are “dusty and tired.” The little mixer’s last job for the day? Mixing up (white) soap (powder) for the cleanup. Savage’s pages are clear and uncrowded; his tidy, wide-eyed construction trucks work within view of a city skyline that could belong to Supertruck (2014), with large white-powder factories that are imposing and stolid and clearly state their products. The book’s thematic elements—trucks and food and mastery of a skill—are well-pitched to a very young audience.
A good reminder for adults that giving instructions is an art and that mistakes will be made from time to time (and that white powder not intended for small mixers should be put out of reach) . (Picture book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62672-153-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires.
Little Blue Truck feels, well, blue when he delivers valentine after valentine but receives nary a one.
His bed overflowing with cards, Blue sets out to deliver a yellow card with purple polka dots and a shiny purple heart to Hen, one with a shiny fuchsia heart to Pig, a big, shiny, red heart-shaped card to Horse, and so on. With each delivery there is an exchange of Beeps from Blue and the appropriate animal sounds from his friends, Blue’s Beeps always set in blue and the animal’s vocalization in a color that matches the card it receives. But as Blue heads home, his deliveries complete, his headlight eyes are sad and his front bumper droops ever so slightly. Blue is therefore surprised (but readers may not be) when he pulls into his garage to be greeted by all his friends with a shiny blue valentine just for him. In this, Blue’s seventh outing, it’s not just the sturdy protagonist that seems to be wilting. Schertle’s verse, usually reliable, stumbles more than once; stanzas such as “But Valentine’s Day / didn’t seem much fun / when he didn’t get cards / from anyone” will cause hitches during read-alouds. The illustrations, done by Joseph in the style of original series collaborator Jill McElmurry, are pleasant enough, but his compositions often feel stiff and forced.
Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-27244-1
Page Count: 20
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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