Big Truck Little Island by Chris Van Dusen
Illustrator: Chris Van Dusen
Publisher: Candlewick
Genre: Fiction, Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.)
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by MistflowerThat big truck is stuck! How will the island residents get where they’re going? A tale of community and ingenuity from the celebrated Chris Van Dusen, inspired by a true story.
When a big truck and its big load get stuck on a narrow road, traffic on the little island comes to a halt. Some cars need to go south and some have to travel north. How will Meg get to her swim meet? What about Barry’s ballet class? Luckily, the kidscome up with an ingenious solution: why not just swap cars? Inspired by an incident that happened on Vinalhaven, Maine, Chris Van Dusen tells a fun tale of resourcefulness and community through clever, rhyming wordplay and whimsical illustrations, sprinkled with plenty of cars and trucks for transportation-loving readers.
I was looking forward to reading this story because it is based on a true story that happened in the state of Maine. I spent many summers camping in Maine in my younger years and therefore I appreciated the artwork on the pages created by the illustrator. The attention to detail with bright colors were a delight on each page.
The story is about how a big truck and its big load get stuck on a narrow road blocking traffic going both directions. The occupants in the cars that were stuck in the traffic got out of their cars to communicate with each other. Exemplifying a sense of community and teamwork.
You see, each person had to be somewhere, and they were all stuck, the solution they came up with didn’t even cross my mind. It was quite brilliant.
This was a clever rhyming read-aloud story that held the interest of the six-year-old girl that I nanny for. She enjoyed this story so much that she requested me to read it several times.
If you are looking for a fun story to read to your child, this summer then I’d recommend this one.
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