Rig Riddles: Whose Truck? by Toni Buzzeo

WHEN SOMEONE HURTS
LIGHTS FLASH AND GLOW.

WHOSE TRUCK IS THIS?
DO YOU KNOW?

Noted author Toni Buzzeo's Whose Truck? (Whose Tools?) (Abrams Appleseed Books, 2015) has all the right stuff for young truck fanciers, whose numbers are legion! Buzzeo builds into this picture book staple an engaging design which works as a basic identification book for toddlers and a vocabulary-building nonfiction entry for older readers.

Each of the six featured service vehicles has a literal three-fold exposition. The verso (left-hand) page features a rhyming riddle with clues to the identify of each truck, while the recto (right-hand) page shows artist Jim Datz' realistic but stylized drawing of each one on the job. Then the eye-catching gatefold opens to show the workers associated with the vehicle, each performing his or her particular role with the appropriate equipment or tool. The electric utility truck gatefold shows the workers repairing fallen power lines with the help of their aerial bucket and boom, and the ever-popular firetruck pages show the hydrant intake hose, the deluge gun, and the fire fighters with their ladders and axes on the job. EMT technicians block traffic, examine patients, and load them into their first-response facility for the trip to the ER.

Also featured are highway maintenance vehicles--scapers, asphalt trucks, concrete spreaders, and all; the construction vehicles include all the usual heavy-duty equipment--cranes and levelers, and even the broadcast trucks and their news hounds show off their antennas, cameras, and cable teams.

Even toy trucks are given their due, in this outstanding salute to those community services and equipment that kids love to watch on the job. Male and female workers of both genders and various ethnic groups are featured by illustrator Datz plying their trades with zest, making this book one that even young readers will enjoy perusing closely all on their own. "A must for toddlers and preschoolers," says Kirkus in its starred review.