These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals. Rounding out the pleasing circularity of events is a little girl’s happy discovery of little yellow bird’s feather: “Mama! What a good day!” A glorious celebration of the simple joys of childhood.

The full-page illustrations, framed in the same brown ink that delineates each animal, appear opposite the minimal text, allowing the child reader to absorb each scene in its entirety with the turn of a page. Henkes uses the bold lines and serene compositions that were the hallmark of his Caldecott Medal–winning Kitten’s First Full Moon (2004), adding sunny watercolors for an appropriately cheery whole. Each creature’s turnaround unfolds in reverse order, small shifts in behavior and attitude making the change. ” The ellipsis has magic in it, turning all these bad days into good. A welcome addition to the Little Blue Truck canon.What makes a good day good? This deceptively simple work opens with calamity: Little yellow bird has lost his favorite tail feather little white dog’s leash has gotten tangled up in the fence little orange fox has lost his mother and little brown squirrel has dropped her nut. the rhyming couplets, animal sounds, and truck beeps make this an excellent choice for a read-aloud. “While the story offers a lovely message on being welcoming and inclusive. Perfect for story times.'- School Library Journal. Adults will feel a rush of nostalgia and delight in sharing this story with children as the animated vehicles and animals in innocent, colorful countryside scenes evoke wholesome character traits and values of growth, grit, and self-acceptance. A terrific choice for the preschool crowd.'- Kirkus 'A charming tale of an endearing little truck on a mission. Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! 'Little Blue is a brave, helpful, and hopeful character young readers will root for. Luckily, Blue knows just the thing to help his friends, old and new, feel at home! Critical Praise

Welcome a new friend to the farm with the #1 New York Times bestselling Little Blue Truck!īeep! Beep! Have you heard the news? There is someone new on the farm!Īll the animals are curious and cautious about the newcomer-what will he be like? Does he neigh like a horse or oink like a pig? Does he have fur or feathers? Does he swim? Does he fly?

Little blue truck makes a friend