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THINGS THAT GO

Name: THINGS THAT GO
Author: Élisa Géhin
ISBN: 979-1-02760-234-6

From the My First Touch and Feel series

by Élisa Géhin ; illustrated by Élisa Géhin ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2017

While there is little to touch and feel, there is much to enjoy and see in the enchanting visuals.

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This French import is a primer on a variety of vehicles, each lightly embossed for tactile exploration.

Within the book, a stroller, bicycle, motorcycle, car, bus, train, boat, airplane, and rocket are featured against white backgrounds accompanied by one-word captions set in clear black type. Géhin’s primary-colored cartoons, with splashes of hot pink and leafy green, are perfectly toddler-friendly: childlike, playful, and recognizable, with rounded corners to boot. While the cover says the project is “An interactive book” and the series is dubbed My First Touch and Feel, readers encountering the large textural swatches embedded in the page may be disappointed. The tactile elements are almost too subtle to notice in many cases and vary from vehicle to vehicle, including spokes of wheels made of raised paper, a canvaslike fabric for boat sails, and foil on the rocket’s exterior. The bus has nothing to feel except a bit of gloss on the windows. Readers content with the striking images, however, will likely be satisfied.

While there is little to touch and feel, there is much to enjoy and see in the enchanting visuals. (Board book. 6 mos.-2)

Pub Date: April 4, 2017

ISBN: 979-1-02760-234-6

Page Count: 12

Publisher: Twirl/Chronicle

Review Posted Online: April 25, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK AND RACER RED

From the Little Blue Truck series

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 25, 2025

A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.

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In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.

Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”

A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: March 25, 2025

ISBN: 9780063387843

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK MAKES A FRIEND
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry

- BOOK REVIEW
TIME FOR SCHOOL, LITTLE BLUE TRUCK
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S VALENTINE
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S CHRISTMAS

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 2014

Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...

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The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.

The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.

Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)