BULLDOZER'S BIG RESCUE

Broach and Murphy rev up for a promising new series starring a lonely anthropomorphic construction vehicle.

Bulldozer’s usually on his own: His older sisters have their own social lives, and a pair of older twins who live nearby don’t want to play. He worries about making friends when school starts. His mom (a human, like the other characters) maneuvers him into welcoming the new family across the street—“a terrible idea,” in Bulldozer’s opinion, because meeting strangers is scary and hard. He really does want a playmate for his racetrack, so he complies—then contends with shy but bossy Millie Patel and her annoyingly voluble little brother, a cat in a tree, a pile of boxes that need to be moved, and feeling underappreciated. By book’s end, though, he’s made a friend; he’ll also garner a loyal following of readers who will eagerly anticipate his next adventure. Bulldozer’s monologue and the characters’ dialogue are spot-on, beautifully conveying the protagonist’s doubts and fears, irritations and resentments, hopes and wishes, and pride at stepping out of his comfort zone. Murphy’s graceful, two-color line drawings depict our hero as small (for a bulldozer) but sturdy, with a saffron-colored cab. He has “big black tires that get hot in the sun” and an expressively mobile mouth on his windshield. The characters are realistically portrayed against minimal backgrounds; Mom is light-skinned, while the Patels are cued South Asian.

An enthralling tale about doing the heavy lifting of making friends.