Trucksation! Tons of Trucks by Sue Fliess

TONS OF TRUCKS
BEFORE OUR EYES,
IN EVERY COLOR,SHAPE,
AND SIZE.

STRONG TRUCKS,
BIG TRUCKS,
SCOOP AND DIG TRUCKS!

Millions and billions and trillions of trucks--all are on the move every day, and Sue Fliess' and Betsy Snyder's' forthcoming (July 3) interactive board book, Tons of Trucks, (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012) gives toddler's digits something to do as these big and little movers scoop and scoot, lift and load, honk and haul. There are fire trucks that squirt, tar trucks that spread, milk trucks that m-o-o-ve, bigfoot mud trucks, and little red lift trucks, with plenty of surprises for little fingers to find.

There is sticky tar from the paving truck, a fork lift that goes up and down, a fire truck that lengthens to show off its long ladder, a power shovel that swings back and forth, a car carrier that folds out to reveal even more capacity, and several whose loading doors open to show off their cargo.

Artist Betsy Snyders opts for the spot art technique as she sets her bright illustrations off against a bright white board background, and there are a variety of movable devices to let youngsters play with these trucks on the page--pull tabs on the army truck which open the sides to show their top secret contents, and a wheel to turn which makes the cement mixer tank turn and the sweeper truck's broom revolve. Numerous flaps open to show off monkeys, mice, and many other critters working and having fun with their vehicles.

And as parents prefer with any book for toddlers, the action slows down for bedtime as s final spread puts these truck friends to bed (hint hint). Snyder switches to a midnight blue background as the trucks park peaceably under a goodnight moon that actually rises, while flaps open to reveal the trucks'passengers readying themselves for snooze time. Ponies snuggle in their trailer, mice brush their teeth and literally hit the hay, while a lion reads a bedtime story to the croc snacking on popcorn in the scraper.

TRUCKS PULL IN WITHOUT A BEEP.
DREAMY TRUCKS
DRIFT OFF TO SLEEP.

Loading by the Letter: Alphabet Trucks by Samantha Vamos

ALPHABET TRUCKS!

A IS FOR APPLE TRUCK
CARTING PRODUCE TO THE STORE.

B IS FOR BOX TRUCK
WITH A ROLLING REAR DOOR.

Some like their alphabet costumed as cozy critters. Some desire alphabetical dinosaurs. But in Samantha Vamos' Alphabet Trucks (Charlesbridge Press, 2013), the letters (upper and lower case as well) show up on jaunty trucks rolling down the road.

There are some familiar haulers in their proper order--Ice cream trucks, Tow trucks, Dump trucks, Pickup trucks--but there are some more exotic vehicles for the customers' consideration.

E IS FOR ELEVATOR TRUCK
RAISE THE FORK LIFT--UP IT GOES!

F IS FOR FUEL TRUCK
WITH A METER, PUMP AND HOSE.

There are plenty of unusual trucks to see at work--knuckle-boom trucks, quint trucks with five different gadgets to deploy, even an X-Ray truck bringing the lab to rural lands, and of all things, a zipper truck, lifting and lowering those temporary barriers along the roads. For youngsters who like to learn their letters on wheels, Vamos' clever quatrains and artist Ryan O'Rourke's jolly and bright toters and haulers, lifters and loaders, movers and mixers, are just right to get young gearheads on the road to reading.

Convoy this one with Brian Floca's top-of-the-line Racecar Alphabet (Ala Notable Children's Books. Younger Readers (Awards)) Jerry Pallota's The Construction Alphabet Book and Audrey and Bruce Woods' Alphabet Rescue.

Hot on the Trail: How to Track A Truck by Jason Carter Eaton

IF YOU WANT A PET TRUCK--AND WHO DOESN'T?--YOU HAVE COME TO THE RIGHT PERSON.

I HAVE GOT TWO DUMP TRUCKS AND A FIRE ENGINE MYSELF

I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE ONE, AND THAT IS WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK.

In his new companion book to his popular How to Train a Train (reviewed here), author Jason Eaton pens a manual for the kid who wants a pet truck. Trains stay on their tracks, so they are easy to find and keep, but trucks are a different story. Trucks can be found wherever roads go, and many are even to be found off-road in the wilds, so before a kid adopts a truck, he's got to track down the perfect one. But the author has some apt advice for the novice truck fancier. First the potential truck owner needs to understand the natural habitats of trucks.

DO YOU WANT A MOVING TRUCK? THEY LIVE IN BUSY NEIGHBORHOODS.

A MONSTER TRUCK? THEY LURK IN ABANDONED PARKING LOTS.

The author points out that some delightful and desirable trucks may be migratory. Ice cream trucks head south in the winter, while snowplow trucks head north and are easily tracked down in wintry climes. And then the truck owner has to consider the proper breed of pet truck to fit his lifestyle.

IF YOU LIVE IN A SMALL APARTMENT, A CAR TRANSPORT TRUCK MAY NOT BE A WISE CHOICE.

And as for the actual capture of your chosen truck, you may need to learn how to recognize your truck's tire tracks and follow him to his lair. Sometimes you may EVEN have to lead them into your trap. But there's a perfect lure for the wily truck.

TRUCKS CAN'T HELP FOLLOWING A TRAIL OF ORANGE CONES.

And once you have your perfect pet truck in sight, remember you can conveniently attract it with the universal homing call of the truck.

MAKE A FIST AND PULL IT DOWN TWICE!

And the perspective owner will be rewarded with that characteristic call of the truck, "HONK!" in Jason Carter Eaton's latest, How to Track a Truck (Candlewick Press, 2016), in a comic treatise on truck-keeping that benefits hugely from noted artist John Rocco's bold and bright multi-perspective illustrations of all sorts of trucks and all sorts of kids successfully on safari to park trucks in their own homes. Each truck comes across with its own personality, yet all come together to cooperate in all sorts of truck-ish activities. As author Eaton promises, "You'll be good to GO!" And that is just what kid truck lovers love to hear.

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).

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.

The Hauler! Trucks by Charles Reasoner

BIG BUSY TRUCKS ARE MADE FOR HAULING BIG LOADS!

Big blue and pink dump trucks and their friends hit the road early to deliver dirt.

They load up and haul their loads straight to the construction site, where builders climbing ladders and a crane is ready to lift building materials up to the roofs.

There's work to be done!

All day long they dump their dirt and sand, on the job and getting it done!

Until--all the dirt is delivered, and they roll back into their garage.

"I'M TIRED!" THEY SAY.

Charles Reasoner's  board book edition of Trucks! (Big Busy Machines) (Little Birdie Books/Brittanical Digital Learning), is a fine beginning books for budding motorheads who love the big machines, especially those impressive dump trucks.  Reasoner's friendly-looking big machines make a good introduction to construction equipment for tots those kids who dote on dump trucks and bulldozers with big bright toy-like characters, illustrated in inviting pastels, as first books for toddlers and preschoolers and simple, easy texts for rising readers.

Meals On Wheels: Food Truck Fest! by Alexandra Penfold

A family of  four is in a flurry and a scurry of a hurry.  It's very early, but they are packing up the baby (where's his other shoe?) and the supplies for an all-day outing.  Everything they'll need--except a picnic. And there's a reason for that!

Time to hustle. There's prep to do.
Bring in the groceries. Here comes the crew.

Let's get moving.No time to rest.
Everybody's going to the Food Truck Fest!

At every big outdoor event, there are special things to do and view for all kinds of people of all ages. Stuff to see, stuff for sale, music to hear, games to play. And circling whatever the event has to offer, there are the trucks with  a world of foods to proffer.

But this time all the crowd needs to do is bring their appetite. This time the food trucks are up-front and center. This is a Food Truck Festival!

Bright trucks of all sizes and hue, each one with its specialty, made just for you!

The cooks dice and slice, frying and baking. What are all these food trucks making?

One of them has got just what you're craving.

Falafel? Belgian waffle?

Kimchee tacos? No illusion!
A tasty Korean-Mexican fusion!

From hot dogs to frozen yogurt, it's a cacophony of cuisines in Alexandra Penfold's appetizing Food Truck Fest! (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018), written in the author's snappy rhymes and rhythms, and illustrated temptingly by artist Mike Dutton, whose comic gouache illustrations feature a fantastic mix of people and appetite-whetting food trucks with the wonders of world-wide foods. There's something for everyone from the food truck folks in what Publishers Weekly says is "right on the mark for this down-to-earth, artisanal cuisine and its scrappy, hardworking purveyors."

And for an non-alcoholic aperitif, pair this one with Mark Todd's awesome Food Trucks! (Savor my tasty 2014 review here)

What's the BIG Idea? Twenty Big Trucks in the Center of the Street by Mark Lee

On a sunny, tree-lined city street, a boy bikes through the park. And then something happens!

ONE ICE CREAM TRUCK, SELLING EVERYTHING SWEET,

BREAKS DOWN AND BLOCKS THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET.

And before the vendor gets out to check under the hood, the mail truck comes along and stops behind him.

And one after the other, more trucks are stopped behind them--even a truck with bales of hay! Looks like nobody's going anywhere today!

And behind him, others stop--a pick-up truck full of landscaping trees, a giant yellow crane truck, delivery trucks of all kinds, two moving vans (who won't be moving), a stake truck of pigs, and a dump truck loaded with sand. Two traffic cops show up, but they're no help. Nobody can back up or go forward. Meanwhile, a cement mixer and a gasoline tanker pull in behind. Next come a tar truck and a truck for towing; nobody here is going to be going.

A garbage truck, a bread truck, a truck full of meat, no is moving on this street. Everybody frets, without a clue. There must be something somebody can do!

A small voice speaks up--the kid on the bike. At first they ignore him, then realize he's RIGHT.

PLEASE LOOK! CAN'T YOU SEE?

THE BIG CRANE TRUCK IS WHAT WE NEED!

And suddenly the stalled crane operator swings his boom over the others and lifts up the ice cream truck, swinging him down to the grassy park's side, leaving the others to continue their ride.

And with the ice cream truck open for business in the park, the boy gets a free ice cream cone, in Mark Lee's latest, Twenty Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street (Candlewick, 2022). Author Mark Lee lets the youngest bystander save the day and help everyone else be on their way, Kids get to polish their counting skills as well in this reading treat, and illustrator Curt Cyrus adds to the fun with his realistic vehicle drawings, All's well that ends well (and with ice cream for all comers.)

Writes the Wall Street Journal's reviewer, "Handsome entertainment. This softly rhyming picture book presents children with a small but exciting dilemma that quickly involves—hurrah!—all sorts of trucks.

Movin' It: Digger, Dozer, Dumper by Hope Vestergaard

ARE YOU QUICK? OR SLOW OR STEADY? THERE'S A TRUCK FOR YOU.

ARE YOU PRECISE? OR REALLY STRONG? WE'VE GOT WORK TO DO.

Kids who long for BIG and powerful construction behemoths will find lots to love in Hope Vestergaard's
Digger, Dozer, Dumper(Candlewick Press, 2013). With plenty of friendly-looking but detailed illustrations of such power movers, the usual suspects--dump trucks, garbage trucks, and power shovels going all the way back to Virginia Burton's Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, --illustrator David Slonim adds more exotic earth movers--skid-steer loaders, excavators, and backhoes, who prep the site for the steam roller and cement mixer to step in and lay the foundation for the steel monkeys to build upon.

Meanwhile, out on the road, there are semis, ambulances, fire trucks, cherry pickers, and tow trucks to choose among.

But in addition to her catalog of big machines, it is in her savvy rhyming descriptions that Vestergaard's text shines.

WHO MADE THIS HOLE? A DIGGER?
TOO SMALL? SHE'LL MAKE IT BIGGER!

HER NAME? THE EXCAVATOR.
HER JOB? SMOOTH OPERATOR.

With a street sweeper whose "steely whiskers whisper/ as they gather dust and dirt," and the dump truck who, when "the gravel starts to spill...makes a little hill," Vestergaard's narrative sings, positively poetic. A super storytime companion to Sherry Duskey Rinker's modern classic, Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site. (Read my review here.)

Transport! Everything Goes: On Land by Brian Biggs

Wow! There are so many cars. Where is everyone going, Dad?

Well may Henry ask. He and Dad are on their way to pick up Mom at the downtown library, and all the world seems to be on wheels, too.

Brian Biggs' newest, Everything Goes: On Land (HarperCollins, 2011), takes us on a tour of transportation on land in perky cartoon style. Young Henry has lots of questions about the vehicles they see--convertible sportsters, electric cars, vans, SUVs, and plain old station wagons in a carpool--and all kinds of trucks--dump trucks, 18-wheel tractor- trailers, motor homes, firetrucks, cement mixers, and ice cream vendor trucks.

And since this is a big city scene, that's not all Henry sees. There are trolleys, elevated trains, subways reached through stairs to the underground station and tracks, school buses, city buses, and airport shuttles, even double-decker tourist buses. And then there are the bicycles--tandems, trikes, racing bikes, mountain bikes--and of course, those cool cruisers, the motorcycles--dirt bikes, police bikes, scooters, choppers, and big Hawgs with motorcycle gang guys in leather and plenty of bling.

If you have a nascent mini-motorhead at home, this new series by graphic artist Biggs has it all. The first in a planned series on all forms of transport, this one is a worthy successor to the perennial go-to book of go, Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, with city scenes just as teaming with vehicles and the added fillip of a human boy to ask the questions. Biggs' book also offers an additional treat, with an iconic figure (a la Waldo) to search for an every page and an additional brainteaser in a figure that doesn't belong in his cityscapes to find among the variety of mini-episodes going on on every page. This one is a keeper for those in the preschool set who find all things mechanical to have a sort of magic of their own.

Watch a brief preview of the book here.

Meals on Wheels? Food Trucks by Jeffrey Burton

WELCOME TO FOOD TRUCK CENTRAL

WE SERVE MEALS ON WHEELS!

These days food is on a roll--rolling out all over town for all sorts of tastes. They may look different, but food trucks have similar equipment--ovens, grills, pots and pans, plates and napkins for their customers.

But what comes on those plates?

AMERICAN FOOD IS ALWAYS GREAT!

But if burgers, hot dogs, and fried chicken are not what you want ...

CIAO! TRY SOME ITALIAN FOOD ON YOUR PLATE!

Flip down the flaps on the front of the truck, and you'll see our favorite foods from Italy--pizza, lasagna, and spaghetti with choice of cheese: Parmesan, ricotta, or mozzarella to top your dish.

Feeling like spicy? Say "Hola'" to mole', tacos, and enchiladas with pico de Gallo or salsa!

Or if your tastes today are more exotic, say "Kannichiwa! to Japanese sushimi and sushi, or some tasty tempura! Or say Namaste! for some Indian curry or tikka masala.

Or maybe you want to take out some Chinese? Ni hao! Lo mein is luscious! Wantons await!

And if you just crave a healthy snack, here comes the fruit and veggie truck, with peaches, pears, apples, and bananas galore.

And then there's everyone's favorite treat, the ice cream truck with sweets to eat--cones, sundaes, and ice cream sandwiches--tinkling merrily down your street!

Yep! These days food is on a roll, with a wide variety of mobile meals, in  author Jeffry Burton's and illustrator Jay Cooper's jolly and just-published Food Trucks!: A Lift-the-Flap Meal on Wheels! (Little Simon, 2016). With sturdy flaps which flip open to reveal pictures each truck's menu, this little board book is good for familiarizing preschool students with the wide variety of foods available, as well as tempting early readers with irresistible rhymes and a chance to learn greetings and food names in several languages. Bon Appetit!

Pair this one with Mark Todd's totally tasty Food Trucks! (read my review here). And make sure to read these right before lunch!

Demolition Derby:Monster Trucks by Anika Dean

ON A SPOOKY SPEEDWAY MONSTER TRUCKS GROAN!

The assembled mummies, witches and assorted spirits assemble in the stands, ready for the race!

FRANKENTRUCK IS FIRST TO ARRIVE.

WITH A JUMP FROM HIS CABLE, HE'S ALIVE!

Soon the rest of the exotic entries appear at the starting line--Werewolf Truck growls up to the line; VampireTruck alights with a green glow; and then the shrouded GhostTruck floats down into his position with a rattle of his drive chain. Of course, VampireTruck has to siphon some fuel from his competitors' tanks before he's ready to roll. At last they're ready to rev, roarin' to race!

And they're off, each one cruisin' for a bruisin'. (They're monsters, after all!) It looks like the, er, spirited fans are in for a monster demolition crash-and-mashup derby, as the monster trucks clang and bang their way around the track. It's not a pretty sight, which is just what the spectators prefer. The crowd roars.

And then there's an unexpected late entry.

OUT OF THE PIT...
WITH A PUTT AND A TOOT,

COMES A LITTLE BLUE BUS
LOOKING PERKY AND CUTE.

Can a indisputably cutesy VW bus beat the big boys to the finish line? Does she have a few frightful tricks up her tailpipe to beat out the big, bad boys on the way to the checkered flag?

Anika Dean's newest, Monster Trucks (Harper, 2016), has just the right dynamic duo--motor racing and monsters--to please young gearheads and Halloween horror fans alike. Her rhyming couplets add plenty of horsepower to the narration, and artist Nate Wragg's surrealistic cartoon-infused illustrations add the spooky-styled atmosphere to please motorhead and monster fans alike during the scary season soon to come. “Nate Wragg creates some wicked vehicular hybrids...and eerie green skies and yellow moonlight set the stage for full-throttle Halloween fun.” says Publishers Weekly's starred review.

Bunnicula Returns? Big Bunny by Rowboat Watkins

Once upon a time, there was a BIG BUNNY.

So begins the purported bedtime story, as parent and child cuddle cozily together in bed under a carrot-printed coverlet. Time for little bunnies to settle down to beddy-bye?

Not exactly. This BIG BUNNY is not cut out to be a warm and fuzzy bedtime bunny. In this fractured bedtime story, the young one, seeking something scary, kidnaps the main character, the would-be centerpiece of this nighty-night tale. He interrupts....

A ginormously SCARY bunny?

The parent tries to continue the narration of a regular big bunny who lives, not on a gigantic carrot asteroid careening in space, but a regular, round planet and eats, not monstrous carrots, but just nice normal orange carrots, not too small, carrots that...

When do we get to the SCARY part?

The storyteller tries to beef up the tale, allowing his Big Bunny to have terrible manners, eating ten carrots at a time, swallowing them whole. Truckloads of carrots....

Does Big Bunny EAT the trucks?

The narrator nixes any suggestions that the trucks have more taste and crunch, but does allow a concession, giving them a horrible fate--stuck in traffic-- requiring the penguins who drive the trucks to construct bridges to give them a way out of the jam.

Penguins drive trucks? This story is WORSE than traffic!

By this time, this bedtime bunny story is well on its way to becoming the story of the Big Bunny Who Ate Cleveland, or whatever city it is that he wants to crunch! The beleaguered storyteller objects, speaking with the voice of reason....

BUILDINGS AREN'T EDIBLE!

I wouldn't tell Big Bunny that.

By this time, our young storyline pirate has totally taken over the whole plotline, in Rowboat Watkins' bizarre bedtime story, Big Bunny (Chronicle Books, 2018). And, sure enough, there's still a surprise in Watkins' next-to-last two-page spread where the, um, crunchy identity of the two storytellers is revealed and a really SCARY conclusion is, well, foreshadowed! Rowboat Watkins' picture books are cleverly conceived and illustrated with an iconic and ironic sense of humor that pleases young readers. "The infectious fun continues to the ending, which will be—trust me—a giant, hilarious surprise to both parents and kids," says The New York Times Book Review.

Share this one with Watkin's weird hit story, Rude Cakes (see review here) and do not miss this chance to read the Aaron Reynolds' Caldecott-winning Creepy Carrots! and Creepy Pair of Underwear! (reviews here).

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?

I Spy a Car Guy! Can You See What I See? Trucks and Cars

If your car-loving kid has already graduated from the I Spy Little Learning Box, a set of three I Spy Little Board Books, here's a natural follow-up for the preschool automobile buff. Walter Wicks' Can You See What I See? Trucks and Cars continues the fine photographic work that Wicks contributed to the wildly popular I Spy series authored for older readers by Jean Marzolo.

Trucks and Cars continues Wicks' Can You See What I See? series with a challenge to preschoolers to zoom in on each page and identify a specific truck ("a truck with a duck") from a page of cars and trucks of all colors and sizes. It's a fun way to sharpen observation skills and works with an adult reader or, after a few run-throughs, as a read-alone book.

Other books in this series which appeal to this age group are Can You See What I See? Dinosaurs, which in addition to teaching dinosaur names, doubles as a concept book teaching up and down, opposites, and size, and Can You See What I See? Seymour Makes New Friends, in which Seymour uses such art supplies as pipe cleaners, beads, craft sticks, and blocks, to make two bunnies on a see-saw. If preschoolers are eager to try out their own craft ideas, directions for at-home craft projects are appended.

For somewhat older kids, there's Can You See What I See? Once Upon a Time, in which rhyming text challenges the reader to find objects in tableaux from well-known fairy tales such as Cinderella or Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

All of these books are excellent as a way to foster focus and lengthen attention span in the preschool years, but the best reason to read them is that they are just so much fun--fun when new for the thrill of discovery and fun when they're familiar for the satisfaction of finding things right where they are supposed to be!