A row of Tonka books were set in front of the low sofa at the library and this “Big Book of Trucks” with a dump truck in action caught my toddler’s eye immediately!
Grabbing the book, he sat down on the settee and flipped through the pages, enjoying every colourful page of front loaders, dump trucks, pavers, tractors, fire engines and other trucks at work.
He then asked us to read it to him and he was hooked. We had it on loan for 2 weeks (renewed for another 2 weeks!) and I had to read this book to him EVERY night! Imagine almost 28 readings from cover to cover…
“The Big Book of Trucks” is an informational and entertaining book about trucks because we are introduced to the types of trucks used:
- to build roads – grader, paver, mixer;
- for odd jobs around town – cherry picker, mail truck, recycler;
- on a farm – mower, tractor, baler;
- on the highway – tanker trailer, tow truck, car transporter;
- in rescue efforts – fire engine, ambulance;
- at the shipyard – forklift, crane;
- at the space shuttle…
Each section first presents the trucks in an overview in action on location while the next page describes them in detail. Overall, this Tonka book is a great read which isn’t surprising as it’s an imprint under Scholastic publications.
Because his earlier book on trucks is in British English (Tonka is American), there were some conflicts between “concrete mixer” and “cement mixer” and “garbage truck” with “rubbish truck”.
Anyway, I loved the illustrations because they:
- were very vivid and full of action e.g. rescue at a fire,
- depict people of various ethnic groups,
- showed both women and men at work i.e. no gender stereotyping
Because he loved the book so much, Hubby and I hope to add Big Book Of Trucks (Tonka)
On our second trip to the library, Lucas had already picked out another book under the Tonka series – “Fire Truck to the Rescue”
Here are other books under the Tonka series:
