Little Blue Truck

by Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry (Illustrator)

Overview

Beep! Beep! Beep! Meet Blue. A muddy country road is no match for this little pick up—that is, until he gets stuck while pushing a dump truck out of the muck. Luckily, Blue has made a pack of farm animal friends along his route. And they're willing to whatever it takes to get their pal back on the road.
Filled with truck sounds and animals noises, here is a rollicking homage to the power of friendship and the rewards of helping others.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780152056612
Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date:	05/01/2008
Series:	Little Blue Truck Series
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	24,027
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.35(d)
Lexile:	AD580L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

ALICE SCHERTLE is an award-winning poet whose much-loved books for children include All You Need for a Beach and All You Need for a Snowman. She lives in Plainfield, Massachusetts.

JILL MCELMURRY is the celebrated illustrator of Our Nest by Reeve Lindbergh as well as her own Mad About Plaid and I'm NOT a Baby! She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Schertle's (All You Need for a Beach) rhyming stanzas are succinct, and she gives readers plenty of opportunities to chime in with animal and vehicle noises; colored, standout fonts highlight these sounds for extra effect. McElmurry's (Mad About Plaid) gouaches recall the heyday of Golden Books in their combination of vividness, naïveté and sweetness, and her rich palette achieves verisimilitude that is no less satisfying for being nostalgic." —Publishers Weekly, starred review (4/28/08) 

Editorial Reviews

"Schertle's (All You Need for a Beach) rhyming stanzas are succinct, and she gives readers plenty of opportunities to chime in with animal and vehicle noises; colored, standout fonts highlight these sounds for extra effect. McElmurry's (Mad About Plaid) gouaches recall the heyday of Golden Books in their combination of vividness, naïveté and sweetness, and her rich palette achieves verisimilitude that is no less satisfying for being nostalgic." —Publishers Weekly, starred review (4/28/08) 

From the Publisher

All the animals happily greet Little Blue Truck as it amiably trundles over hill and dale: "Toad said, 'Croak!'/ and winked an eye/ when Little Blue Truck/ went rolling by." No wonder, then, that the obnoxious Dump Truck gets a cold shoulder when it goes too fast ("I haven't got time to pass the day/ with every duck along the way!") and gets stuck in the rural muck. But when the selfless Little Blue Truck gets mired while trying to help, all the animals rally 'round and teach Dump Truck about neighborliness (the particularly buff Toad implicitly offers a subsidiary lesson on the value of working out). Schertle's (All You Need for a Beach) rhyming stanzas are succinct, and she gives readers plenty of opportunities to chime in with animal and vehicle noises; colored, standout fonts highlight these sounds for extra effect. McElmurry's (Mad About Plaid) gouaches recall the heyday of Golden Books in their combination of vividness, naïveté and sweetness, and her rich palette achieves verisimilitude that is no less satisfying for being nostalgic. Ages 3—7. (May)

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Publishers Weekly

PreS- Folksy rhyming stanzas introduce readers to Blue, the eponymous pickup truck, and the barnyard critters he greets as he navigates the country roads near his farmhouse. The first half of the book is an enchanting, toddler-entrancing symphony of animal noises and beeps. The cheerful text mimics the bouncing of the truck, and the warm folk-art illustrations call to mind the paintings of Grandma Moses. Then it begins to rain, and a mean, self-important dump truck enters the story. When the Dump gets mired in the mud and honks for help, he gets no response: "nobody heard/(or nobody cared)." Then Blue drives into the puddle to assist, but also gets stuck. When Blue cries for help, the animals rush to the rescue. From this, the dump truck learns that "a lot depends/on a helping hand/from a few good friends." While the message might be a little heavy-handed, this is still a fun, rollicking story that should find a place in most collections.-Rachael Vilmar, Eastern Shore Regional Library, Salisbury, MD

School Library Journal

Plucky animals rescue stuck truck. As the bright blue truck with headlights like eyes rattles down the country road, all the animals greet it. A big yellow dump truck comes zooming by; after passing Blue, Dump gets stuck in a patch of mud. Blue tries to help, but he gets stuck as well. Lickety split, the cow, the horse, the sheep, the chicken-all the farm animals-pitch in to free the two vehicles. They can't quite budge the trucks until the big green toad (pictured knee-deep in mud in a muscleman pose) joins the team. Out pop the trucks. Dump learns a valuable lesson-"a lot depends on a helping hand from a few good friends"-and Blue gives the animals a lift back to the farm. Schertle's rhythmic text-accented on the page by judiciously applied colored inks-fairly chants itself. McElmurry's vibrant illustrations, in gouache on watercolor paper, recall Cooney and Burton in palette, line and design. This crisp rendition of a familiar scenario is sure to become a storytime favorite. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews

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