Keep on Truckin': Monster Trucks by Mark Todd

MONSTER TRUCKS! MONSTER TRUCKS!

GREEN GARGLING GARBAGE TRUCKS.

EATING AND CRUNCHING,

MUNCHING AND SLURPING,

JUST DON'T BE AROUND

WHEN THIS GUY STARTS BURPING.

Yep. Stink Brothers Garbage Company is on the move, taking on all comers and giving off a powerful parfum de refuse. But in the busy world of big vehicles, Stinky has plenty of cohorts and helpers in construction and haulage. There's Dump Truck Chuck, who tipples tons of dirt, the determined Dozer who snarls and scrapes with his shovel blade, and Suds the Sanitation Department Street Sweeper who scrubs the streets before the morning rush.

Although their names--Mr. Moo Milk Truck, Big Red Firetruck, Mr. Salty the Snowplow, and Smoosh the Steam Roller--conjure up images of cozy Sherry Duskey Rinker-esque equipment bidding the construction site nighty-night, Mark Todd's Monster Trucks! (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015) are some truck-ulent bad boys, with a lean, mean look on their anthropomorphic faces. Todd's trucks are personified by windows, headlights, and grills forming their tooth-knashing, eye-glaring facial features, and these all-business builders and haulers proudly show off their metallic mechanical parts like body-builders show off their massive biceps and pecs. Preschoolers and primary-grade gearheads will love Todd's detailed but comic drawings and giggle at his irresistible alliterative and onomatopoeic rhymes constructed to fit each monster machine.

SLIME-SUCKING SWEEPER TRUCKS
SNORTING AND SCRUBBING
WITH A BIG BRISTLY BRUSH--
CLEANING THE STREETS
FOR THE 9 O'CLOCK RUSH.

Todd's new board-book edition of Monster Trucks! belongs in the bibliographic garage with other storied giants of vehicledom, Todd's fresh and delicious Food Trucks! Jon Scieszka's Welcome to Trucktown! (Jon Scieszka's Trucktown) and sequels, Kate and Mike McMullan's mighty movers I Stink!, I'm Dirty! and sequels, and Chris Gall's Dinotrux books. (See even more mighty vehicle tales here).

Automotive Abecedarius: Race From A to Z (Jon Scieszka's Trucktown) by Jon Scieszka

"CALLING ALL TRUCKS--A, B, C.

LET'S GO, TRUCKS--RACE FROM A TO Z!"

Jack Truck throws down the oil rag, er, gauntlet, and gets the Trucktown gang revving up for a race, not to a place, but from one end of the alphabet to the other!

A IS FOR AXLE, BUMPER STARTS WITH A B!

C IS FOR CONSTRUCTION, CURB, CONES, AND CRASHES!

And pistons are pounding as trucks take to the road! Dan the Dump Truck, (who dumps dirt and dashes) takes the lead, but all the citizens of Trucktown have their moments--Cool Grader Kat smoothes the way, Gabby the Garbage Truck fairly flies, Rescue Rita and Wrecker Rosie strut their stuff, while little Izzy the Ice Cream Truck trails along in the rear, with a plaintive

"ICE CREAM! ICE CREAM! DO YOU WANT AN ICE CREAM?"

"NOT WHILE WE'RE RACING!" THE BIG RIGS ROAR AT POOR IZZY.

But harsh words do not melt Izzy's determination, as he stays cool and keeps in the race. In fact, when all the rest screech to a halt at the Y is for Yield sign and get themselves in a terrible truck traffic jam, Izzy chugs by, triumphant. Z, it seems, is for IZZY!

With the help of superstar illustrators David Shannon, Loren Long, and David Gordon on his pet crew, Jon Sciezka's latest in his top-selling Trucktown series, Race from A to Z (Jon Scieszka's Trucktown) (Simon and Schuster, 2014), offers an alphabet lesson embedded in a demolition derby that gives readers quite a ride. The trio of artists contribute a fine cast of rambunctious googly-eyed characters, full of personality from grill to tailpipe, to keep kids' heads in the alphabet game all the way to the fast and funny finish line. "Clever fun, swooshing with motion and energy, this latest in the series will keep readers racing their engines for more," says Kirkus Reviews.

Where the Grubber Hits the Road: Food Trucks by Mark Todd

HEY! HERE COME THE FOOD TRUCKS!

TALK ABOUT YOUR MEALS ON WHEELS.

THESE TRAVELING CHOW HOUNDS

ARE HEADING TO YOUR TOWN.

The diner on the corner has sprouted wheels and is rolling to a stop somewhere near you!

Talk about your fast food!

The successors to those picturesque pushcart vendors are now mobile enough to make their rounds all around the town, stopping at times when folks are due to emerge hungry--at factory gates, at coffee break time, across from the local college or sports arena--wherever people want handheld foods.

Take Bubba Q down in the Sunbelt, for example, loaded with napkin dispensers for those yummy, drippy sauces and icy sweet tea urns, who drives around with the best advertising scheme there is, the smoker on top, exuding the delicious smells of spicy roasting meats. Or how about flagging down Amigo, the Taco Truck.

HOLY MOLE' GUACAMOLE!

HOW ABOUT A HOT TAMALE?

Or for those more Down East-ish folks up in New England, there's Charley's Chowda chuggin' up to warm up those Yankees, proudly showing off their mission statement:

"NOTHIN' SPEAKS LOUDAH THAN A BOWL OF CLAM CHOWDA!"

The Pharoah's Tummy forks out the felafel, while Cheddar Chuck grills them up, cheesy and melty, in dozens of flavors. The Better Burger Builder Bus even looks like a burger, with an exhaust pipe on top disguised to look like a marker for "WELL DONE." If you're feeling cosmopolitan-ish, there's always Curry in a Hurry (from the land of spices and Basmati rices)! And don't forget to get your daily greens from Mr. Cobb, the salad truck! From a morning cuppa Joe to pretzels and sushi, it's a movable feast for almost any taste.

What's for desert? How about a cupcake from Sprinkles or an ice cream confection from the original mobile food prototype, the Ice Cream Truck!

It's a convoy of cantinas parked and waiting for you in Mark Todd's hot off the press Food Trucks! (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014), along with steamy bubbles with foot factoids about each food (In the U.K., cupcakes are called "Fairy Cakes.").  Author Mark Todd's rhyming narration bounces along gaily with his comical detailed illustrations of rolling restaurants. A nice addition to that transportation or foods unit for primary classes and a lyric litany of dining possibilities for urban eaters. Is it lunchtime yet?

Mom & Pop Shop: Truck Stop by Anne Rockwell

EARLY EACH MORNING,
BEFORE THE SUN IS EVEN UP,
THE TRUCK STOP OPENS FOR BREAKFAST,
AND THE TRUCKS START PULLING IN.

But before the first 18-wheeler rolls in, Mom, Dad, and their son are already there, starting their day and getting ready to keep 'em rolling along the main highway.  The boy squeezes orange juice, Dad starts the bacon and hash browns frying, and Mom gets the coffee brewing.

Outside Uncle Murray turns on the outside lights and gets the service center lights on as well, just as the headlights of the regulars start lighting the lot with their headlights.  Sam parks his big rig, gets Uncle Murray to check all this tires, and fills up with coffee and eggs over easy. Maisie's Milk Tanker rolls in, followed by Diligent Dan's Moving Van, who fill up their tanks at the pumps and their tummies at the counter.

As the sun lights up the front windows, in comes a flatbed hauler and Pete & Priscilla's Tow Truck.  The regulars are all there, except for Green Gus, the little battered pickup and his driver, who usually start the day at the family's diner counter.

Still wondering about Gus, the boy runs out to meet the Yellow Bus, which makes its special stop out front to pick him up for school.

ON THE OLD BLACKTOP ROAD THROUGH THE WOODS, I SUDDENLY SEE GREEN GUS, PARKED ALL ALONE ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD!

"PLEASE CALL THE TRUCK STOP AND SAY I'VE FOUND GUS!" I ASK THE BUS DRIVER.

It looks like Pete & Priscilla's Tow Truck will be making its first run of the day right away, the boy thinks, as he settles back into his seat with a sense of a job well done. After all, Gus is a regular, and even if the boy is on his way to school, it's still his job to take care of him when he needs the truck stop to help.

Anne Rockwell, a famed veteran writer with a gazillion books going back over decades under her belt, establishes a wonderfully warm family feeling in her latest, Truck Stop (Viking, 2013). For this kid, the family shop is his home, a place where his is an important job, part of the on-the-road community that they serve.  There is a strong pride and sense of place in Rockwell's setting that makes this homey business more than a mere gas-and-go stop on the long highway.  Artist Melissa Iwai's solidly soft and rounded illustrations add a just-right heartland flavor to this look into the life of a small mom-and-pop place which plays its part in what keeps the business of life rolling.

Beep! Little Blue Truck Leads the Way by Alice Schertle

LITTLE BLUE TRUCK ROLLED INTO THE CITY.

"BEEP!" SAID BLUE. "THE CITY IS HIGH."

Rolling through the countryside, with dawn just breaking, and a load of lettuces in his loadbed, Little Blue Truck is happily on an adventure. He's making a delivery to a restaurant deep in the city, and as the sky fills up with skyscrapers, the road he's had all to himself suddenly turns to a multi-laned tangle.

There are vans making early-morning deliveries, police cars shrieking "WOOEEEEE!", a busy street sweeper, and a double-decker bus--even a long limousine carrying the mayor to a  very important speech--and all of them are trying to get ahead of all the others. Little Blue's little "beep" seems lost in all the racket of a busy city starting its day.

But all this hustle and bustle and hurrying to get ahead has its problems. Soon all the vehicles find themselves in a jam. The mayor is stewing; he can't be late for his super-important speech!

"MOVE IT, LITTLE BEEPER!" ONE YELLS.

But Blue knows just what to do. As everyone pushes to be first, he has another plan.

"STOP!" YELLED BLUE.

"YOU MIGHT BE FAST AND I MIGHT BE SLOW!

BUT ONE AT A TIME IS THE WAY TO GO"

In her delightful sequel to her 2008 hit, Little Blue Truck, author Alice Schertle's rhymes are just as charmingly bouncy,  as her hero, a big-eyed, good-hearted little farm truck, ventures into the big city, where larger, more impressive vehicles try to shove him aside in their race to GET THERE! But in this latest, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012), common sense and cooperation save the day, with even the mayor climbing into the tiny truck's loadbed along with the lettuces to second Little Blue's homely advice and direct traffic. With Jill McEllmurry's appealing little anthropomorphic vehicles done up in bright and jolly gouache primary colors, they all get to arrive at their own happy ending, especially young readers who will love to read both books.

Popular Mechanicals: Garage Tales by Jon Scieszke

It's bargain time in the land, and for those little trucksters and motorheads out there, Simon & Schuster has a nifty, thrifty three-fer from Jon Scieszka's noted Ready-to-Roll series of tales from Trucktown, (2010), featuring three recent stories for the price of one.

In the first truck tale, "Uh, Oh, Max," Max the overenthusiastic little big-wheels truck can't stop his off-road bouncing--until he gets himself stuck in the muck under an overpass. Who can get him out? Jack Truck, Gabby the Sound Truck, and Kat the Road Builder strike out, and even Izzy the Ice Cream Truck can't entice Max out of the mud. Is it time to call in Tow Truck Ted?

In "Pete's Party" the usual suspects set out to follow Pete's directions to his garage, where they all plan to party down, but it seems nobody has a GPS--or a clue--here. Who'll be the hero and find the way?

In the final truck tale, "Dizzy Izzy," author Scieszka has a rockin' rhymin' time as Izzy gets busy, spinning and spinning in circles, gets himself all in a tizzy, all in the interest of getting dizzy. But is he?

It's all in good fun, and for those little lovers of trucks and construction equipment, Scieszka and his trio of award-winning illustrators, David Shannon, David Gordon, and Loren Long, turn out some of the most glee-ful vehicles on four wheels ever in their Garage Tales (Jon Scieszka's Trucktown) (Simon & Schuster, 2010), good for many a giggle.

Vehicular Verse: Truckery Rhymes by Jon Scieszka

PATTYCAKE, PATTYCAKE

Pattycake, pattycake, Dumpster Dan,
Dump me some dirt as fast as you can.
Slide it and drop it and mark it with D.D.
And pile it in the lot for Melvin and me.

Melvin, of course, is the sometimes timid cement mixer, one the playful, prankful, and zoom-y residents of Jon Scieszka's Trucktown, a motorhead municipality if there ever was one.

In his brand-new Truckery Rhymes (Jon Scieszka's Trucktown), the powerful trucks turn poetic, with a new take on nursery rhymes featuring the residents of Trucktown. (Previous experience with Mother Goose recommended.) Here's some firehouse fun based on the familiar nursery song:

POP BLOWS THE DIESEL

All around the parking garage
Pat Pumper chases the Diesel.
Pat Pumper thought it was all in truck fun
'Til POP! blows the Diesel.

Pat Pumper with a spool of hose
And Lucy with her ladder.
That's the way the Truck Game Goes,
POP! goes the Diesel.

Or for a morning preschool sing-along, here is a sample of a few verses of the vehicular version of "The Wheels on the Bus":

The scoop on the truck goes chomp, chomp chomp, etc.,
The blade on the truck goes scoop, scoop, scoop, etc.,
The siren on the truck goes whoop, whoop, whoop, etc.,

and finally, after many verses,

The ice cream truck goes "Do you want ice cream, do you want ice cream, do you want ice cream?
All the trucks say "Lazy, you're messing up the song!"

All the gang are here--Monster Truck Max and his fellow bully Big Rig, Emergency Rescue Rita, Wrecker Rosie, and Payloader Pete, to name a few. The action never stops with trucks, and for good reason:

THAT'S WHAT TRUCKS ARE MADE OF

Metal and stuff and everything tough--
That's what trucks are made of.
Play by the ton and everything fun--
That's what trucks are made of.

As always, Scieszka's pit crew of creative "mechanics"--artists David Shannon, Loren Long, and David Gordon--car-pool their skills to come up with the vehicles of Trucktown in illustrations that will appeal gloriously to the little guys out there who adore these mighty movers.

Semi-Saurus: Dinotrux by Chris Gall

Millions of years ago
Prehistoric trucks roamed the earth.
They were HUGE!
They were HUNGRY!
But they weren't helpful like they are today.

Kids love dinosaurs. Kids love trucks. So what could be better than dinosaurs that are trucks, or trucks that are dinosaurs? That's the picture book world where author-illustrator Chris Gall's Dinotrux (Hachette, 2009) rule.

Look! There in the branches! CRANEOSAURUS!

He was always sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

CRACK! MUNCH! Look out, birds!

Then there is the DUMPLODOCUS, the morph monster of the dumptruck and the Diplodocus, who littered the ancient landscape with the contents of his loadbed, and the GARBAGEADON, which gobbled up and compacted everything in his path. ("Look out, cave man!") There was ROLLODON, who subdued his prey by rolling them flatter than Flat Stanley, but even worse were CEMENTOSAURUS and BLACKTOPADON, who trailed their gucky droppings behind them everywhere they went. In contrast, though, some Dinotrux were pretty laid back--especially the DELIVERADONS, which mostly napped during work hours, piled up like a litter of puppies. But the worst of all was TYRANNOSAURUS TRUX, before which all the others, even FIRESAURUS and DIGASAURUS, fled in fear.

So what happened to all these mighty monsters? Well, Gall says that a terrible storm transformed the Earth into goo and mud, into which the biggest and dumbest of the Dinotrux sank and expired. But fortunately for mankind, it wasn't a total extinction.

But the smart ones went south in search of better weather, and hundreds and thousands, and millions of years later they shed their teeth and their toenails and their misbehaving ways.

Come on, Dinotrux, lend a hand! Good work, Dinotrux!

Now they are always on the job.

And they never ever quit!

Chris Gall's clever text and strong inventive illustrations work together well in this tall tale of truckdom which has wide appeal to preschoolers and primary graders alike. For example, his endpapers feature a left-hand side which shows the morphed dinos/truck and a right-hand page which shows the modern truck version so that kids can match the two. Chris Gall has also created a cave family--dad, mom, and boy--who react humorously to the moto-monsters among them, and whose modern descendants are seen excavating the fossil Dinotrux from their prehistoric tar pits on the last pages.

Mike Mulligan and His Digasaurus? Danny and the Dozeratops, anyone?