Little Blue Truck

Title: Little Blue Truck

Bibliographic information:

Author: Alice Schertle

Illustrator: Jill McEllmurry

• Series: Little Blue Truck
• Board book: 30 pages
• Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers; Brdbk edition (July 7, 2015)
• Language: English

Reader's Annotation:

Little Blue Truck loves traveling down country roads, meeting all the animals along the way.  But when Dump Truck comes along, he arrogant and rude.  What happens to both these trucks when the mud mires them down?

Interest Level: Ages 0-3

Lexile level: AD580L

Awards, if applicable:

Not Applicable

Plot summary: Little Blue Truck travels down country roads, making friends will all the animals he meets along the way.  When the arrogant dump truck travels down those same roads, he is quite rude.  So when dump truck is mired in the mud, he is left to cry in vain.  When little blue truck is mired in the mud - all the animals come out and try to help him!  

Critical review: This book begs to be read aloud; Schertle’s use of rhyme and sound is delicious.  The rhyme scheme that dominates the prose does tend to the folksy, but that is well in keeping with the overall tone of the story.  And what toddler doesn’t enjoy forcing the adults around him to make animal sounds?

Why include it?

This lovely board book is bright and colorful, inviting little readers and their parents to make all sorts of animal sounds and truck sounds.