Alice Schertle

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 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.… (més)