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Summary
Summary
There are many different kinds of trucks to drive. You can dig up dirt with a power shovel, lift steel beams with a giant crane, flatten tar with a steamroller, and push away snow with a snowplow. Preschoolers will love watching the little boy and girl in the story as they sit in the driver's seat of twelve great machines that rumble and tumble and go clinka-vroom vroom !
Author Notes
Jonathan London was born a "navy-brat" in Brooklyn, New York, and raised on Naval stations throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico. He received a Masters Degree in Social Sciences but never formally studied literature or creative writing. He began to consider himself a writer about the time he graduated from college. After college he became a dancer in a modern dance company and worked at numerous low-paying jobs as a laborer or counselor. He wrote poems and short stories for adults, earning next to nothing despite being published in many literary magazines. For some 20 years before he penned his first children's book, London was writing poetry and short stories for adults. In the early 1970s, he was reading his poems in San Francisco jazz clubs, and those experiences found their way into his witty children's book Hip Cat, which has been featured on the PBS children's television show Reading Rainbow.
After writing down the tale The Owl Who Became the Moon in 1989, London began to wonder if other people might want to read it. He picked up his kids' copy of Winnie-the-Pooh and saw that the book was published by Dutton, so he casually decided to send his story to them. Surprisingly enough, they wanted to publish him. Working with different illustrators, and occasionally with co-authors, London has produced literally dozens of books. Most have appeared under his name, but some have come out under a pseudonym, which still remains a secret.He has published over forty books and has earned recognitions from organizations like the National Science Teachers Association.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-This is a wonderful picture book about trucks, from power shovels to street sweepers and more. On every other spread, a girl and a boy take turns driving each of the vehicles. The trucks are described in rhyming couplets; those that the boy operates feature onomatopoeia, making this book a must for storytimes and read-alouds. "I'm a BULLDOZER operator./Growl, grumble, broom!/I'm a big earth mover./Growl, grumble, broom!" The alternating voices of the children help to enhance the rhythm and rhyme of the story and present a great opportunity for a reader's theater or dual-storyteller presentation. The acrylic illustrations are vibrant, cartoonlike, and friendly. In addition, the girl's pages feature a cat and the boy's, a dog. Children will quickly pick up on this pattern, and they will search out the animals. With expressive faces on the trucks, the pictures will draw young audiences into the story, reminding them of Jon Scieszka's Truck Town (S & S, 2008).-Lora Van Marel, Orland Park Public Library, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
London (the Froggy series) and Parkins (Aunt Nancy and the Bothersome Visitors) leap right into fantasy with this catalogue of best-loved big rigs. "I'm a POWER SHOVEL operator," declares a girl, who takes turns narrating and sitting behind various vehicles with a male counterpart. "I dig up the land./ I operate the gears/ and scoop up the sand." Parkins sets his action at night or against dark-hued cobalt skies, a striking dramatic element not usually found in this genre. A hapless cat and dog contribute visual slapstick (getting stuck in cement pouring from a mixer or nervously peering down from an I-beam suspended from a crane). This duo clearly knows what their audience likes: chunky, rounded shapes (fans of Disney's Cars will recognize the style immediately), simple but accurate detailing, plenty of onomatopoeia, and just enough anthropomorphism to make it clear that these trucks revel in collaborating with humans-in a standout fire truck scene, the vehicle's headlamp eyes squint with a determination that echoes that of the boy and cat in its cab. Ages 3-7. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved