When Daddy’s Truck Picks Me Up
Written by Jana Novothy Hunter
Illustrated by Carol Thompson
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
ISBN: 978-1-84780-092-3
Summary/Back cover:
It’s Daddy’s turn to pick me up.
I get up fast today!
Daddy drives a tanker truck,
And he comes a long, long way.
Today is a special day – Daddy’s coming to pick his son up from nursery school. All day the little boy imagines Daddy’s truck driving on motorways, over mountains and through tunnels to meet him. But a traffic jam makes Daddy late. The bouncy rhyme and exuberant illustrations are just right for truck-loving children and the parents who hurry home to them.
While this book has general appeal, I think it would be especially great for those children who don’t get to see their dad every day. It follows the young boy’s excitement from the time he wakes in the morning to when he rides in his dad’s truck at the end.
While the dad bears no likeness to my children’s father, I like that the dad doesn’t look like the cookie cutter father in most picture books – this one has a pony-tail, tattoos and an earring. I also like the illustrations. They look like a little kid created them using crayons and dye. I thought that could have added another dimension to the book, by the implication that the illustrations were drawn by the little boy in anticipation of seeing his dad, except the boy in the story is too young to have drawn them. I find it a little disappointing that the publishers seem to have overlooked this.
The rhythm of the rhyming story does not always flow the best, but it does support the excitement of the little boy. The writer has obviously worked hard at showing a range of emotions, too, such as excitement, disappointment, frustration and anticipation. I suspect that the topic of the book was close to the heart of the author.
My rating: 3 out of 5
Review written by team_s
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