Digger, Dozer, Dumper

Starred review from May 27, 2013
Vestergaard (Potty Animals) offers 16 poetic tributes to big machines and trucks that should prove deeply satisfying to young connoisseurs and the grownups who read to them. Rising above the usual singsong name-checking, Vestergaard celebrates not only the jobs these machines perform but also their marvelous mechanics (the garbage truck’s hydraulic arms; the levers of the agile skid-steer loader). And she consistently makes word choices that offer both catchy aural hooks and powerful, concise descriptiveness. On a street sweeper: “His steely whiskers whisper/ as they gather dust and dirt./ They tickle all the gutters,/ then rinse them with a squirt.” Slonim’s (The Deer Watch) pictures are rendered in bright acrylics (fire engine red and construction sign yellow prevail) and outlined in appropriately rugged charcoal; their burly cuddliness skews the pages toward younger imaginations. Each machine gets a humanlike expression on its grill (or, at the very least, a pair of googly eyes), and a crew of hardworking, hard-hatted kids and one eager, floppy-eared dog help get the jobs done. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Anna Webman, Curtis Brown.

Starred review from July 1, 2013

PreS-Gr 2-These delightful, finely crafted, informative, fun verses can serve as Common Core exemplar texts while satisfying truck and poetry fans. Each rig's function is described with great care and attention to language with seamless rhymes, alliteration, and assonance gracing the selections. Nothing seems forced about Vestergaard's rhymes; they're smooth and sure, and easy to set to memory: "After the asphalt's dumped and spread/in sticky, long black lines, /the road must cure. You can be sure.../Steamroller's close behind...." About the cherry picker, Vestergaard writes, "The picker pauses in the sky, /plucks its target, /then.../gently, slowly, gracefully, sets it down again," and in a tour-de-force ending: "digger, dozer, dumper, grader/backhoe, roller, excavator/...." Each poem is presented on a spread with lighthearted acrylic and charcoal illustrations that often include a girl and two boys of various hues and a yellow hard-hat-wearing pup, as well as the rigs themselves with hints of personification in their headlight eyes. There are 16 machines in all: garbage truck, forklift, street sweeper, and so on. The cartoon children are depicted operating the machines, but the final illustration reverses the relationship of object to child; suddenly the children are quite big and their trucks are small and handheld. This book is intelligent and informative, with craft, rhythm, great art, and entertainment.-Teresa Pfeifer, The Springfield Renaissance School, Springfield, MA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2013
Rhyming poems introduce children to anthropomorphized trucks of all sorts, as well as the jobs that they do. Adorable multiethnic children are the drivers of these 16 trucks--from construction equipment to city trucks, rescue vehicles and a semi--easily standing in for readers, a point made very clear on the final spread. Varying rhyme schemes and poem lengths help keep readers' attention. For the most part, the rhymes and rhythms work, as in this, from "Cement Mixer": "No time to wait; / he can't sit still. / He has to beg your pardon. / For if he dawdles on the way, / his slushy load will harden." Slonim's trucks each sport an expressive pair of eyes, but the anthropomorphism stops there, at least in the pictures--Vestergaard sometimes takes it too far, as in "Bulldozer": "He's not a bully, either, / although he's big and tough. / He waits his turn, plays well with friends, / and pushes just enough." A few trucks' jobs get short shrift, to mixed effect: "Skid-Steer Loader" focuses on how this truck moves without the typical steering wheel, but "Semi" runs with a royalty analogy and fails to truly impart any knowledge. The acrylic-and-charcoal artwork, set against white backgrounds, keeps the focus on the trucks and the jobs they are doing. While there are many rhyming truck books out there, this stands out for being a collection of poems. (Picture book/poetry. 3-6)

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July 1, 2013
Preschool-G This collection of poems introduces 16 hardworking vehicles, from a little street sweeper tidying up the neighborhood to a mighty semi barreling down the highway. In the framework verse, three children are invited to try out the trucks. While the verse concentrates on the accomplishments of each vehicle, the illustrations show the kids (and sometimes their cheerful canine companion) in the driver's seats. The rhythmic, rhyming verse is expressive as well as informative. The text may be a bit long for the youngest truck fans, but they will be captivated by the lively artwork. In contrast to Slonim's lovely landscape paintings in The Deer Watch (2013), here his energetic acrylic-and-charcoal pictures animate the industrious trucks, creating amusing facial expressions from headlights, bumpers, and other seemingly immobile features. The final spread gathers all the vehicles together and, with the turn of a page, transforms them into toy trucks moved about by the children. Fun for reading aloud, especially one-on-one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2014
These playful verses sing the praises of sixteen trucks and the work they do. The lighthearted acrylic and charcoal illustrations enhance the poems' humor and give their subjects loads of personality. The same three children and friendly dog are pictured throughout, in drivers' seats and working alongside their truck friends. The book will make light work of even the toughest storytimes.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2013
From a street sweeper's early morning rounds to an excavator at the construction site to a snowplow braving "blowing squalls / or sleety storms," these playful verses sing the praises of sixteen trucks and the work they do. The lighthearted acrylic and charcoal illustrations enhance the poems' humor and give their subjects loads of personality. There's some refreshing gender equality, too, as six of the trucks are female: "Two levers make her tires whir. / Both front: she goes. / Both back: retreat! / She zips and turns across the street." The poems, at their best, not only describe the trucks' jobs but also reveal something of their spirit. The cherry picker "pauses in the sky, / plucks its target, / then. . . / gently, slowly, gracefully / sets it down again"; the bulldozer "pushes piles of dirt and junk, / and levels trees and brush. / He's not a bully, either, / although he's big and tough." The same three children and friendly dog are pictured throughout, in drivers' seats and working alongside their truck friends. The final scene reveals that the kids are actually playing with toy trucks, and while that toys-are-real conceit may not be new, it never gets old for a child audience. Digger, Dozer, Dumper will make light work of even the toughest storytimes. kitty flynn

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)