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Train off the Rails with Kody and Dot

Name: Train off the Rails with Kody and Dot
Author: Robert Von Goeben

by Robert Von Goeben illustrated by Mike Yamada ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

An excellent rhyming story that shows how seeing more of the world can help individuals realize their own importance.

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Two colleagues find a new appreciation for their delivery jobs in this illustrated children’s tale of teddy bears and trains by a writer and toy company founder.

Kody and Dot of 2 Bears Delivery Service handle boxes around the same loop of train tracks every day. But following this route all the time takes its toll, and though they have their work appropriately divided—Kody navigates while Dot drives—they start feeling a bit bored with their occupations. Is what they’re doing really important? One day, on their twisty daily path along the loop, Dot takes a bump too fast, and the train jumps right off the tracks. After a moment of worry—“Where will we go / And how will we ever get home?” Kody asks—Dot convinces Kody that this is their opportunity to change their rhythms and explore new territory. Unconcerned with normal physics, the two bears set off on their train without bothering about tracks, driving across the countryside and making an exciting discovery: their boxes are traveling all over the world on all types of vehicles. Finding a new enthusiasm for their labors, the bears return home, but with a fervent inspiration to travel the globe and add to Kody’s map (“Kody and Dot now see their world / in a much more wonderful way”). With the Green Toys logo on the cover and the train that Dot drives, it’s unsurprising that some of this cuddly cute story feels a bit like a toy tie-in. The packages that the bears transport are never explicitly called toy boxes, but it’s easy to imagine they are, and many of the tale’s vehicles match playthings in the Green Toys catalog. The tie-in nature and improbable train locomotion aside, the story works as a way for two disenchanted bears to discover just how important their labors are—and devise a solution to their daily humdrums. Von Goeben’s (Ballparks, 2004, etc.) rhyming text scans well, though the stanzas are not printed where the normal breaks would be. Yamada’s (The Noisy Garage, 2016, etc.) sweet illustrations border on the saccharine, but young toy lovers should fall for the adorable bear conductors, and preschoolers who love picture books about vehicles should be thrilled with all the different types featured here.

An excellent rhyming story that shows how seeing more of the world can help individuals realize their own importance.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Green Toys

Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2016

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S VALENTINE

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 8, 2020

Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires.

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Little Blue Truck feels, well, blue when he delivers valentine after valentine but receives nary a one.

His bed overflowing with cards, Blue sets out to deliver a yellow card with purple polka dots and a shiny purple heart to Hen, one with a shiny fuchsia heart to Pig, a big, shiny, red heart-shaped card to Horse, and so on. With each delivery there is an exchange of Beeps from Blue and the appropriate animal sounds from his friends, Blue’s Beeps always set in blue and the animal’s vocalization in a color that matches the card it receives. But as Blue heads home, his deliveries complete, his headlight eyes are sad and his front bumper droops ever so slightly. Blue is therefore surprised (but readers may not be) when he pulls into his garage to be greeted by all his friends with a shiny blue valentine just for him. In this, Blue’s seventh outing, it’s not just the sturdy protagonist that seems to be wilting. Schertle’s verse, usually reliable, stumbles more than once; stanzas such as “But Valentine’s Day / didn’t seem much fun / when he didn’t get cards / from anyone” will cause hitches during read-alouds. The illustrations, done by Joseph in the style of original series collaborator Jill McElmurry, are pleasant enough, but his compositions often feel stiff and forced.

Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires. (Board book. 1-4)

Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-358-27244-1

Page Count: 20

Publisher: HMH Books

Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- 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
GOOD NIGHT, LITTLE BLUE TRUCK
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

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WRECKING BALL

From the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series , Vol. 14

by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2019

Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.

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The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.

When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.

Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)