Little Blue Truck

I'd kind of avoided this book because it looked hokey, but I finally caved and I'm glad I did! I liked the fun animal sounds that were woven into the rhyme scheme (nice way to do some predictions), and the story is a cute version of the gigantic turnip, with everyone helping and the smallest being the turning point.

"Little Blue Truck" by Alice Schertle is my favorite picture book to read to the little boy I babysit. The central theme of kindness and cooperation is shown throughout the story through a friendly little blue truck. The little blue truck drives through the farm and is nice to all the animals honking at them as a hello. Whereas the big dump truck does the opposite. The dump truck ignores all the animals and eventually gets stuck in the mud and so since he wasn't nice to the animals before they didn't help him out. However, the little blue truck decides to help the dump truck and then gets stuck too. Since the little blue truck got stuck the animals all rush over to help him out. This teaches the dump truck to always just be kind to show more others and good things will come your way and to "treat people how you want to be treated." The book uses personification by giving the vehicles and animals a distinct personality which makes it easier for children to relate to their actions and emotions. The rhythmic rhyming of the text helps keep it lively and fun to read aloud and helps keep young readers engaged as they might anticipate words or the repetition of sounds/phrases. The illustrations play a crucial role in bringing the story to life. The colorful, detailed, and accurate drawings of the trucks and farm animals makes the countryside setting seem warm and fun. Also, the expressive faces of the animals and trucks adds to the emotional depth of the story helping the readers understand the characters emotions and reactions. show less

A story about helping others, even if they're mean to your friends (and also maybe an intro to anthropomorphic cars). And like, your friends will help YOU so maybe they'll indirectly help you help the person who was a dick? anyway lots of fun onomatopoeia.

Maybe it's because I have boys, but this book got requested, and read, a lot in our house. And I never minded it. The language and rhymes (and truck sounds) are fun to read. The lesson is gentle, but heartfelt. I felt good every time we got to the end.

First, I like that the main characters have names. I find that stories with named characters are more engaging, and I think it helps get across the point of friendship. Blue was nice to all the animals and greeted them on his journey. Dump didn't. So when they got stuck, the animals only wanted to help Blue. Alas, both were saved, and Dump learned a good lesson about friendship. There is a secondary message about helping others in need, even if they don't deserve it. Overall, my boy loved the book, and I never got tired of it, despite reading it again and again, sometimes on the same night. We originally got a copy from the library but bought it for ourselves after. That probably shows how much we liked it. I suspect we will get the show more others in the series too.

Recommended age: 0-3 years

Writing style: The Little Blue Truck is written in verse, with a ton of animal and truck sounds. It was easy to add interesting sound effects or vary my voice when reading because of the variety of fonts, font colors, and capitalization.

Lexile score: AD390L
Decoding difficulty: 3/5
Vocabulary difficulty: 3/5
Sentences difficulty: 3/5
Patterns difficulty: 4/5

Illustration style: The illustrations pulled me into the book. They use subtle, warm colors, like autumn, which is the season the book takes place. I especially loved the illustration of Dump zooming past Blue and the animals.

Reality-based: Yes. The animals and trucks are drawn realistically, except for the big eyes on the Blue and Dump (the two vehicles in the story). The message of helping others is applicable to children, and getting stuck in mud is relatable. show less

A muddy country road is no match for this little pick-up—that is, until he gets stuck while pushing a dump truck out of the muck. Luckily, Blue has made a pack of farm animal friends along his route. And they're willing to whatever it takes to get their pal back on the road. Little Blue Truck is a joyful cacophony of animal and truck sounds that will have youngsters beeping and quacking—and begging for one more go-round! This board book edition is perfect for little hands. Along the way, readers see that it pays to be kind to our animal friends. If we show a friendly respect to others, we’re more likely to get help when we’re, say, stuck in the muck in a truck!

This is the story I used to read to my little brother when he was around 2. It was his favorite book, and honestly, I enjoyed reading it to him almost every other day. The story follows a friendly little blue truck that travels in the countryside greeting animals along the way. the little bluetruck builds friendship with all of these animals and cares to talk to them. another truck and the blue truck get stuck in, the animals come together to free them! the story shows kindness, friendship, and helping others.