4 Stars cause Steve Buscemi does the voice of the truck in the video version of this that Otto has been watching, and he really goes all out ( )

I was reluctant to read yet another truck book to my 3yo, but she insisted, and I'm glad I did. This is about a backhoe, which, A, I never knew was so fascinating and all-purpose. And, B, it was great: the backhoe had tons of personality. And it was an "it"! I am so tired of trucks being "he" in board books. So this truck was an "it", which was awesome. Recommended. ( )

A busy backhoe loader describes all the items it hauls off a lot and all the fun it has getting dirty while doing so.

I liked this book for several reasons. First, the book has great unique illustrations. For example, when the backhoe is unloaded from the trailer, the reader sees a dirty, trashy dump. The vivid colors with the numerous objects capture the viewer’s interest. In addition to that, the ways the words are distributed around the page are done in such an artistic creative way that helps to accent the illustrations and the onomonopia words. At the same time, the author chooses different fonts and boldness to accent the words and the illustrations. An example of this is “Backhoe loader reporting for duty. Easy as pie. Well make that a mud pie. ABOUT FACE! Down the ramp…” All of the artistic choices help to make really interesting vivid illustrations that capture the reader’s attention immediately. Additionally, the book is written from the first person point of view (from the backhoe). I think this is very interesting and captures the audience’s attention because it gives a different perspective that we are not used to seeing, that from a machine that completes dirty jobs. This creates interest in the reader and pushes them to continuously read the book. This is most evident in the “Who’s got a boom, a dipper stick, and a bucket with a row of chompers? ME! The big idea of this story is that it is okay and fun to do jobs that always aren’t glamorous and make you get dirty. ( )

This book was okay in my opinion. My four year old loved it and we had to read it every night for a week. This would be good in a preschool setting or kindergarten.