Big Yellow Trucks and Diggers Colors: Caterpillar

Big Yellow Trucks and Diggers Colors: Caterpillar
series design by Paul Kepple
book design by Kristine Brogno
board book
ages 2-5
Caterpillar equipment is on the job! This series features photographs of genuine Caterpillar movers and shakers doing what they do best - work! This book in the series focuses on the colors of the construction site - green hat, yellow Caterpillar, gray gravel, and more. It is shameless advertising for the company, but so is the M & M counting book, Cheerios counting book, etc.
Since I know one Caterpillar engineer and there is going to be a distribution center in my neighborhood, I am okay with this.

Going Places: Going by Train

Going Places: Going by Train
Weekly Reader Early Learning Library
by
Susan Ashley
nonfiction, ages 4-7

This factual book with color photography talks about the state of trains in today's world. It shows where trains are used, what kinds of trains there are, and has a glossary, index, and bibliography in the back.
This is a good I-can-read-it-myself book for children who are into vehicles since it is a tidy 24 pages long.
Since Ohio is planning to add a statewide passenger train, this book and other books on trains, should become more popular in the next 4 years.
http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20100208/UPDATES01/100207010
Others in this series are:
Going by Bus
Going by Car
Going by Plane

Scoop that Snow!

Scoop that Snow!
Jon Scieszka's Trucktown
by
David Shannon, Loren Long, and David Gordon
Children's Fiction
ages 1-4
boardbook

What's not to love about a book that has a window with plastic flake snow that a child can shake and sparkly glitter snow on the inside? This book features and enthusiastic tractor snow plow and a dump truck having a ton of fun clearing the streets of snow.
This sturdy book should appeal to many Tonka lovers and should hold up pretty well with heavy library usage until the plastic window is punctured.
This is less sarcastic and with broader appeal than some others in the series.

Katy and the Big Snow

Katy and the Big Snow
by
Virginia Lee Burton.

This is an oldie but goodie (1943). I experienced this one as a book-on-tape plus book kit. I had it in my car and listened to it three times this week!
The unidentified narrator was very enthusiastic as Katy, the tractor that was a bulldozer in the summer and a snowplow in the winter. If you remember "Mike Mulligan and His Steamshovel" but not "Katy", then be sure to read the Katy book. It is a real treat. It is easy to see the similarity between Mary Anne and Katy and these two books. Mary Anne and Katy are two great heroines. If you can, introduce these books to your local Bob the Builder and Handy Manny fans.
Now is the right time to read this book as the snows start in Ohio.

On the Road

On the Road
by
Susan Stegall
Children's Fiction, ages 18 months - 3 years.
This is a very simple, colorful book for the young. It has large, easy to see text and lots of activity. See the fire engines, backhoes, city buses, race cars, motorcycles, bicycles, dump trucks, mopeds, and more! The license plates indicate that this is an English book. Use this book to practice prepositions as you follow the road "under, through, over", etc.
It isn't quite as busy as a Richard Scarry book, but it should rate as a good book for kids who can't get enough of moving vehicles.
Beep, beep!
The only thing I wonder is why this is not a board book. I am concerned that the pages will rip if the audience member tries to grab the book. The copy I checked out of the library was NOT ripped. I hope it stays that way.