Little Blue Truck Leads the Way - Hardcover

ALICE SCHERTLE has written many well-loved books for children, includingVery Hairy Bear and All You Need for a Snowman. She lives in Plainfield, Massachusetts.
JILL MCELMURRY is the illustrator of Our Nest by Reeve Lindbergh as well as her ownMad About Plaid and I'm Not a Baby! She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

PreSchool-Grade 1—Little Blue Truck rides in rhyme again, this time carrying crates of lettuce to a metropolitan market. His bug-eyed headlights show appreciation for the city views, as well as discomfort when the faster-paced vehicles harass him. From a double-decker bus to the mayor's limousine, traffic irritably jams into a crunch intensified by the limo engine's demise. The portly, gray-haired mayor uses Little Blue as a podium, instructing citizens to follow the truck's advice to travel "one at a time." The resulting courtesy creates a smooth flow, even when a marching band joins the line. Everyone cheers for the little truck, who leads the way with the mayor as his passenger. McElmurry's gouache scenes are spot-on. Simple compositions in calming indigo and cream in the country starkly contrast with the jam-packed city scenes where a crush of buildings barely shows the sky. The urbanites are a rich mix of ethnicity and purpose: coffee drinkers, construction workers, dog walkers, briefcase carriers, they all pound the pavement. The tale is a fine illustration for classes studying urban and rural settings, and the simple plot is a treat for even very young listeners.—Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA END