O’Garden takes readers for a rhythmic ride through the car wash in this playful outing. “What do we get for driving far?” she begins. “A crusty, dusty, dirty car.” Jabar’s (The Sundae Scoop, p. 1700, etc.) opening spread depicts a harried father behind the wheel of an outlandishly long, red automobile. Overhead, sea gulls fly low; two children sit in the back seat, one holds an ice cream sundae out the window. “How are we going to get it clean? / The bathtub? / Or the washing machine?” Without missing a beat, the family heads to the titular car wash for an onomatopoeic scrub-down. Alive with springtime tones and textured brush strokes, Jabar’s vibrant illustration depicts a car wash shaped like a giant, sunglass-wearing face; patrons enter through its open mouth. Inside, a hipster employee with two earrings and a goatee flashes a peace sign. The wash begins (“We hear a funny whumping sound / as floods of suds come foaming down / at the lathery-blathery, / scrubbly-bubbly CAR WASH”), bathing readers in sensational sounds. “Steamy sprays beyond the brushes / rinse us down in luscious rushes / at the drippity-droppity, bottom to toppity, / lathery-blathery, scrubbly-bubbly CAR WASH!” O’Garden offers a spot-on soundscape. While not as imaginative as Car Wash (2001), by Sandra and Susan Steen and Brian Karas, this will definitely appeal to the same audience. Whether they’ve been through an automated car wash or not, children will happily go along for the ride. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-694-00871-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2002
Smoother rides are out there.
Mommy and Bonnie—two anthropomorphic rodents—go for a joyride and notice a variety of conveyances around their busy town.
The pair encounter 22 types of vocational vehicles as they pass various sites, including a fire engine leaving a firehouse, a school bus approaching a school, and a tractor trailer delivering goods to a supermarket. Narrated in rhyming quatrains, the book describes the jobs that each wheeled machine does. The text uses simple vocabulary and sentences, with sight words aplenty. Some of the rhymes don't scan as well as others, and the description of the mail truck’s role ("A mail truck brings / letters and cards / to mailboxes / in people's yards) ignores millions of readers living in yardless dwellings. The colorful digitally illustrated spreads are crowded with animal characters of every type hustling and bustling about. Although the art is busy, observant viewers may find humor in details such as a fragile item falling out of a moving truck, a line of ducks holding up traffic, and a squirrel’s spilled ice cream. For younger children enthralled by vehicles, Sally Sutton’s Roadwork (2011) and Elizabeth Verdick’s Small Walt series provide superior text and art and kinder humor. Children who have little interest in cars, trucks, and construction equipment may find this offering a yawner. Despite being advertised as a beginner book, neither text nor art recommend this as an engaging choice for children starting to read independently. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Smoother rides are out there. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-37725-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
While there are many rhyming truck books out there, this stands out for being a collection of poems.
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)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5078-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
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