Bulldozer's Big Day
By Jan Carr,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Fun birthday tale for preschool truck lovers.
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What's the Story?
In BULLDOZER'S BIG DAY, little Bulldozer can't wait to invite the other construction vehicles to his birthday party. He zooms to the construction site and asks each truck in turn, "Guess what today is!" But the other vehicles are all busy, scooping, sifting, stirring, mashing, and lifting. Bulldozer's blade droops low. But when the end-of-day construction whistle blows "Wooot!" Crane hoists up a big cake, and Bulldozer raises his blade high to blow out the candles.
Is It Any Good?
Bulldozer's Big Day is a solid choice for young truck lovers. Though the story's been told before (Did everyone forget my birthday? Surprise!), the trucks are a fun twist. The story's spiced with playful sound words ("Tooot!"), lots of muscular action verbs ("scooping," "mashing," "lifting"), and repetition that helps kids anticipate and predict what's going to happen. In Rohmann's bold, blocky art, Bulldozer looks endearingly young, both when he's exuberantly excited and when he's crestfallen, and there are clues in the art and text that signal that the other vehicles may not have forgotten his birthday after all.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about construction vehicles. Can you identify the different vehicles?
Are there any hints in the story or the art that the other vehicles are planning a party? Look closely. What can you find?
How do the artist and writer make the construction vehicles seem human? How do we know what their emotions are?
Book Details
- Author: Candace Fleming
- Illustrator: Eric Rohmann
- Genre: Picture Book
- Topics: Cars and Trucks, Friendship
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Atheneum
- Publication date: May 5, 2015
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 4 - 7
- Number of pages: 40
- Available on: Nook, Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: July 12, 2017
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