Common Sense Media Review
By Mandie Caroll
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Deceptively simple, utterly charming truck bedtime book.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 2+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
YOUR TRUCK can be any color you want, it can carry things, it can go fast, and where you want it to. When the sun sets at the end of the day, your truck will get sleepy and drift off to sleep. You can sleep, too, and dream of where your truck will take you.
Is It Any Good?
This deceptively simple, utterly charming truck and bedtime book for the littlest readers is a huge winner. The pictures in Your Truck are mostly composed of common shapes that kids may enjoy spotting (circles as tires, ovals as eyes, etc.). Pay close attention to the eyes in each object and animal: They do a lot of heavy lifting to communicate curiosity, interest, annoyance, surprise, and sleepiness. The spare text is beguiling as it encourages readers to imagine, giggle, create a story, and let it all go for bedtime.
The line "It will take you as far away from here as you want" may strike an especially poignant note for some little ones. Kids who don't want to roam far will likely read past it, and some adventurous types may imagine exciting journeys in "their truck," but those who find themselves in bad situations of any sort can read this as an invitation to dream and hope for better things to come. It's a powerfully inclusive sentence that recognizes that, while not all kids have everything they deserve, all readers deserve to be seen in the books they read. Oh, and final pages that show the truck falling asleep are gorgeously soothing, making this a perfect bedtime book. It's rather astonishing what Jon Klassen has managed to do in this book with a truck that doesn't actually go anywhere.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the pictures in Your Truck. Did you notice that they're made using shapes? Can you find all the squares, rectangles, ovals, and circles? What about the parallelogram or trapezoid? Why do you think the author drew the pictures this way?
What color would your truck be? Why is that the best color?
The story says that the truck can take you far away. Where would you go in your truck? What places do you want to visit? Why?
Look closely at the eyes in all the pictures. What emotions or thoughts do you think the eyes are trying to communicate? Why?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Jon Klassen
- Genre : Board
- Topics : Animals ( Dogs ) , Transportation ( Cars & Trucks )
- Character Strengths : Curiosity
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Candlewick
- Publication date : January 6, 2026
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 2 - 5
- Number of pages : 28
- Available on : Nook, Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Award : Common Sense Selection
- Last updated : March 6, 2026
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