Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that there's nothing offensive here; this picture book is a great bet for kids who love trucks and construction.
Families can talk about trucks -- the big ones and the filthy ones, and which ones are favorites. Families can also play make believe with mud or sand, behaving the way a backhoe would. (Or, if a muddy mess is inconvenient, parents could dump a package of rice in a casserole dish and let kids dig in.)
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Dawn Friedman
This rollicking picture book packs a lot of action in the illustrations and the story. Any child who's fascinated by construction sites or the big, yellow trucks that creep by on the freeway will love the busy, buzzing monologue by an enthusiastic backhoe loader.
The premise is simple: The backhoe takes the reader along when he sets out to clean up the dump. But this guy loves his job; his big, white-toothed grin and over-the-top narration show off his infectious pride. He doesn't just smooth out the dirt, he likes it "smooooooooth"!
Words and pictures mesh perfectly here. The grungy, rough background looks delightfully messy, and the bright orange-yellow of our friendly narrator pushes past his chunky outline, emphasizing his strength and zeal.
The text is informative (sharing the bits and pieces that make up a backhoe's tool chest), educational (a four-page spread counts backward as the truck cleans up old tires and broken lawn chairs), and entertaining. Kids who love mess and mud will like watching the backhoe become dirtier the more he helps clean.
Bursting with energetic fonts that boom out in capitals and boldface, this book is fun to read aloud -- just be sure to keep it off the nap-time book list. This is a story that will get kids jumping!
From The Book
Backhoe Loader, reporting for duty.
Cleaning up this mess? Easy as pie. Make that a MUD pie.
ABOUT-FACE!
Down the ramp...
Plot Summary:
A friendly backhoe takes readers to his dumpster job site for some messy cleaning up.
Related Books:
Other Books for Truck Enthusiasts:
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia BurtonCars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry
Dig Dig Digging by Margaret Mayo
Trucks: Whizz! Zoom! Rumble by Patricia Hubbell
Get to Work, Trucks by Don Carter
TV for Truck Lovers:
Bigfoot Presents: Meteor and the Mighty Monster Trucks
Rate It!
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual Content |
 |
 |
||
Violence |
|
|
||
Language |
|
|
||
Message |
|
|
||
Social Behavior |
 |
 |
||
Commercialism |
|
|
||
Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco |
|
|
||
