Cars and Trucks Books

They're simple. They're informative. They're cheap. If your child is too young to read, they're perfectly good read-aloud books.

What more can you ask for when stocking your kid's library?

This one has a simple story indicating the steps it takes to turn a factory into a park. Plenty of new vocabulary for any child interested in construction - and I don't know of one kid who isn't ultimately interested in construction!

Children have always adored watching "big machines doing big jobs," and this book provides ample opportunity for both boys and girls to read about these machines and the jobs they do knocking down an old building and creating a new park where people and animals can have fun.

Although boys will be sure to read this book over and over again, make no mistake -- many girls adore watching construction equipment and all the noises they make!

This is a good book for the little guy (or gal) who is learning to read and who justs loves Big Machines (like my nephew!) Ordinarily I prefer illustrations, but this book shows photographs of big machines which is good for showing kids exactly what they look like so that when they see one passing by they will be able to identify it thereby reinforcing their learning. It also defines certain relevant words about each machine which I really liked.

Okay. My girlie-girl wasn't interested - at all (lol) -in this book. But I'm sure that plenty of other girls and boys would be. There are lots of bright photos of heavy equipment: crane, bulldozer, dump truck, excavator, tipper truck, concrete mixer truck, water tanker, roller, forklift, panel van, big truck.

Plus there is something to learn. For example, I never knew that the big trucks that flattened asphalt (rollers) had their rollers filled with water.

I particularly like that all of these machines are shown in the context of a project. In this case, an old factory is being torn down and replaced by a park (something I think will engage the interests of quite a few children.) Because of this format, children will see (if it's pointed out) that projects take shape in stages. First, for example, the old building needs to be torn down, the rubble taken away. Then paths need to be laid and a pond dug out. Once the pond is dug, it needs to be filled with water. Sod and flowers need to be brought in and planted... and on and on.

Four Stars. [B-]. There is a concept here and not `just' heavy equipment. The text is not for those seeking a first reader. While the vocabulary is not overly difficult, there are frequently more than two sentences per page. This might be good book for readers with a little experience under their belts. The text from page 18 follows so you to judge for yourself.

The pond needs concrete
to line its base.
A concrete mixer
brings concrete.
It's drum goes
around and around
and concrete pours out
of a special chute.

We first found this book at the library. We read it so often that my 2.5 year old son can finish each sentence and page. Great book for reading to kids and teaching them basic construction vocabulary! The pictures are great and easy to use to engage the children in a beyond-the-book discussion.

My son loves to repeat the sound words in this book. He is beginning to tell me the story!

My son (age 2) has loved this book and the whole series of books by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker. The books use a lot of aliteration and poetry, so even younger children who can't understand the words like the rhythm of the words. The illustrations are pleasing and he gets a kick out of the fact that animals are driving. I don't agree with the reviewer who said they are only for under-three year olds; they actually give a lot of information and contain a glossary at the end. My son knows what a piston is that raises a dump truck, that a semi and tractor trailer are words for the same kind of truck, knows how tractors work, etc.. from reading this series to him (I even learned some things!).

My 3 year old daughter and I really enjoy this book and the others in this series. My daughter loves fire engines and this book is informative as well as fun. The story begins with the fire engines waiting at the fire house. The alarm bell sounds and the crew rushes off to fight a fire. As the story continues everything the fire crew does is explained in easy to understand terms. I really liked the expanation of how the water is pulled from the ground through the fire hydrant to fight the fire. After the resident of the house is rescued and the fire is extinguished, the crew goes back the fire house to clean up, take a break, and await the next fire. The illustrations in this book are just okay. The animals that make up the fire crew look a little strange to me but my daughter was able to identify what they were (bird, mouse, rabbit). The best part of this book is the informative rhymes that make up the story. Not too much information for a tired mom like me to read at night. My daughter and I really like the the last page of the book that lists pictures of fire engine parts and equipment and their names. Thanks to this book my daughter knows new words like water tank and pump and what they do. My daughter asks me to read this book often and it has become a favorite. If your child is really into fire engines and books about them check out the book Dot the Fire Dog. It's another one we really enjoy.

My 2 1/2 year old son loved the book from the minute I brought it home from the library. No matter which other books I take out to read, he asks for this one instead. What attracted me was the illustrations have a "Richard Scarry" feel to them. So they are three gentle looking animals that are firefighters and save a dog in a fire. It's a fairly quick read, good for those nights where everyone is a little more tired than usual, and it rhymes. I'm here buying a copy now since the library book has to be returned in another week and I know I'll get the request for it. At the end, it has the back page where they explain in more detail different things a fire fighter uses like helmet, air mask, etc.

We checked this book out of the library and my 2.75 year oldloves it. The sentences are too complicated for him, but he likes thepictures and the detailed explanation of the firefighter's equipment on the last page.

Arrived very quickly and in good repair for a used product.

This book is quite cute. Basically, a storm blows through down, knocking down things, and the team has to gear up to rebuild the town. Bob goes one direction and part of the other team goes out to Farmer Pickle's farm to help clean up the pond. However, when Lofty tries to lift out a fallen tree, Pilchard was in it and the branch breaks, dangling her over the pond. Bird comes to the rescue and goes after Bob and Scoop to get Pilchard out of the tree. Scoop saves the day and rescues her and in the end, she's safely purring in the chair in Bob's living room.

This book is particularly good if you have a large storm and you have to explain what's going on in the news. It's sorta strange how we got this book the day we had a very large storm here and it made all the difference in explaining what was going on. Bob having to go out and repair a lot of problems really helped to explain all the trucks, etc. that were around fixing things. Highly recommend this book!

My name is Dores Pampers and I have read this book 100s of times.
I am 13, and it is one of the best books in the world. I love it so much, and you will, too!

A big storm rages through the night and causes lots of damage. Bob and Wendy get the calls and they head out fix things.

At farmer Pickle's, a couple of the trucks notice the pond has to be cleaned out. But before they can get started, Pilchard the cat climbs a shaky tree and gets stuck upside-down right over the pond. The trucks rally with Bird to find Bob and Wendy. But in the end all is well.

The book uses stills from the television show to illustrate the story. Each page has one picture that fills the whole page except the bottom where the text is. The text is a little clumsy. It reads like a transcript of the script with 'said Bob', 'said Muck', etc. stuck at the end of each line. But while a little clumsy to read the first time or two, the kids seem to really like it.

There's not a lot I really have to comment about this book. It's a cute extension of the Bob videos. My 2 year old loves to watch the movies, and likewise loves to look through this book. Now granted, a two year old won't really take the time to let me actually read it to him at this point, but he loves to look at and point out what he calls the, "Big Trucks".

If your child loves the 'Bob' movies, they'll love thumbing through this book!

Since she was 9 months old, my daughter has loved this series of books. Last week she actually turned to the "That's not my truck, it's too shiny" page and said "Too Siny!" She is only 16 months and I was pretty impressed. My only recommendation is that after reading 4-5 of them, they start to get repetitive in their descriptions, but we have the bunny, dragon, teddy, and truck and they are favorites.

Just to make a correction that the word ridgy is an actual word. People who write books for children in england take great pride in using proper dictionary words because they care. The word ridgy according to webster says Function: adjective, having or rising in ridges. Thank you.

My toddler loves these Usborne books. That's Not My Truck is brightly colored and just so cute.

I love all of the Usborne books so far but have some reservations about this one. That's not my Truck uses made-up words like ridgy in describing the trucks. Is that a word? Not my favorite Usborne.

This book (and others in the same series) is terrific for introducing your little one to descriptive words. With different textures to explore on each page and an adjective to tell about it, the little mouse hunts for his own truck and finally discovers it at the end. This sturdy board book incorporates an educational spin on the plain old truck! Perfect for your little explorer - especially if you have a little boy who love trucks.

This book was a very good resource for my car. The details, descriptions, and also real world advice made it possible for me to take on a job that would have normally cost me around $800.00 in labor alone. Even if I didn't plan on working on my car, this book, and most likely all the other Haynes manuals, makes it a lot easier to understand the car, gives you the confidence to perform some of the maintenance yourself, and when it comes to bringing the car in for service you won't need to just plainly trust the mechanic and hope that they are not overcharging you.

Overall great experience!

This manual is not just for the grease monkey, but for the average car owner. Even if you don't do the work yourself, this guide will give you an idea of the work involved and educate you as a consumer if you ever need to take your car in for repairs. It is also a nice reference if you buy a used car and the original manual is missing. It has a maintence schedule as well as a troubleshooting guide.

Since the manual covers multiple makes and models, I found some of the photos and directions inaccurate when it came to my 98 Camry 4 Cylinder 2.2L. Although this did not give me great confidence at first in doing my work, in the end it didn't matter.

The manual is well written with adequate pictures and drawings for both the Camry and the Avalon. This is a good buy for the do-it-yourself'er for minor maintenance and adjustments.

I remember growing up with these books but have not seen them in a while. When I needed to work on my Camry again I was pleased to find it. The descriptions and the pictures are good. Sometimes you have to read it several times before tackling the job. You also need to jump around in the book at times which is fine.

This manual is good for general information, but don't expect it to substitute a good service manual. Some of the topics covered in the manual are in better detail than others. If you want thorough steps and procedures in performing maintenance and repair, I suggest you spend a little more money on a better manual.

I like the clever rhyme scheme that the author employs in his text, but the visuals are very linear and look like they were all drawn on a computer. A silly, fun book to read, I don't think it is a must have for a home library unless you have lots of disposable income.

I watch my 2 1/2 year old grandson 4 days a week. He loves trucks and points them out to us whenever we are taking a walk or out for a drive.

We encourage reading and have many books readily available so that we can read to him or he can read on his own. Our daily routine includes reading 2 or 3 books before going for his nap.

Trucks Roll is one of his (and mine) favorite books!

The book is written in short, melodic sentences that little children just love. It is a very colorful and fun book.

I highly recommend this book.

Bold, colorful pictures are great. Words are fun describing all the cool things trucks do and what they haul around. Trucks Roll!

My 2 year-old son LOVES this book. The graphics are big, bold, and colorful. The language is engaging and fun. Any child who loves trucks will adore this book.

We originally checked it out from the library and that night my 2 year old son wanted to read Trucks Roll again and we didn't have it....NOT a good thing.

This book is now a part of our home library and it is still the book he chooses every night. He loves the pictures and of course announcing over and over with me "Trucks ROLL!"

Although my 2 and a half year old son normally loves these kinds of books, this particular one didn't live up to the test. My son is not a rough kid, but when the sound stopped working after only half a day he easily tore the sound panel from the book. The watch type batteries couldn't be replaced so we had to throw that part away, but still have the book. There are better made sound effects children's books out there.

Perfect book for 18 months+. The sounds are very realistic. The signs are easy to follow, although the color of the signs in the book differ from the color of the 'noise' buttons. However, my 2-year-old grandson wasn't confused.

This is a great book for digger lovers! It has very realisic sounds and good photos. Both our kids love it!

Our three-year old loves this book. Each spread features a full-page photograph of a big construction vehicle at work with text on the facing page. The wording is exciting, e.g. "Climb up in the cab and start your engine!" and interspersed throughout are symbols that correspond to pads at the right margin of the book. When your child presses the appropriate button, the story comes alive with the sound of a truck starting up, a horn, a digger scooping dirt, a backing-up beep or a jackhammer. The sounds are realistic and pretty clear. Your small truck devotee should really enjoy this exciting book.

Our three-year old loves this book. Each spread features a full-page photograph of a big construction vehicle at work with text on the facing page. The wording is exciting, e.g. "Climb up in the cab and start your engine!" and interspersed throughout are symbols that correspond to pads at the right margin of the book. When your child presses the appropriate button, the story comes alive with the sound of a truck starting up, a horn, a digger scooping dirt, a backing-up beep or a jackhammer. The sounds are realistic and pretty clear. Your small truck devotee should really enjoy this exciting book.

I was hoping to find a book of nice photographs of construction equipment for my digger-crazy toddler and chose this book because of the positive reviews and because we have Caterpillar's Big Farm Machines book which has nice photos of farm equipment. Unfortunately this book was quite disappointing. Because it is focused on teaching colors many of the photos are close-ups on parts of the vehicles which are not very interesting for my toddler. Also for teaching colors there are some odd choices (for instance a picture of garbage at a landfill to teach "many colors").

If you have a little boy (or girl) who loves trucks and construction equipment, this is the book.

The Big Yellow Trucks and Diggers book by Caterpillar was a huge hit at Christmas with the boys. A 3-year old and 18-month old opened the present, sat down and looked at each page. It was priceless! Way to go Caterpillar!

Santa brought my son this book for Christmas in his stocking and he loves it! At 3 years old he is quite a "dig-dig" lover and with my family being a CAT employee family it was perfect! The pictures are great and he enjoys sitting with his dad and admiring them all. Definitely not for a child that is still in the biting/chewing stage, as the cardboard pages would get ruined. A definite A+ book!

This book is lots of fun for a baby-preschooler learning colors. Every 2-page spread has the text on some brilliant color on one side, and a photo of a big yellow Caterpillar machine on the other. "The hard hat is green. The loader is yellow." At the end, it says all these big machines are yellow! In case you didn't catch it the first time... It gives yellow a good name! Good fun to read to your child, with nice photos of some very impressive machines.

Has beautiful photos of semi trucks! Cannot wait for my son to open it on Christmas Day!

I got this book for my over the road trucker. He is all into the custom stuff and the shine of the stainless. He found some things wrong with a few of the trucks, but personal prefference, I guess. =) I liked it. Made me feel like i has at the show & shine in louisville, KY at the truck show.
I would recomend it to others.

The most exciting Custom truck color pictorial to hit the streets in a while. 95 pages of photos and descriptions, and particularly great is the inclusion of many interior shots.

The book begins with a few chapters entitled 'Trucks that make you go WOW!', 'Transforming a working truck into a custom working show truck', 'Extreme Details', and 'Show Offs'...a chapter detailing some of the major US venues and events for Custom Show truck displays.

From there, fourteen trucks, and their owners, get a chapter each.

This book is an excellent foreruner to her recently released 'Big Rigs'. If you are into custom showtrucks both of these books are "must haves"

If you have ever admired a big rig roll down the highway, this book is for you. The trucks in this book are of course all show trucks (some working). Each truck has an amazing description with great pictures. This is a really good book for anyone who likes trucking.

From a woman who has been taking photographs of trucks for over twenty years has finally came out with a book of her excellent work of photograph, of trucks. You have seen in work for American Trucker magazine up to current Roadstar magazine. I have to say its about time that she has had a photographs published in her own book. She covers 28 show trucks,over a span about 5 yrs. All in All get this book, if you love the show trucks that are at the truck show, you will love this book. I was pleased to have this sittin under the Christmas tree.

I have read all of Mr. Welling's books and bought them for my nieces and nephews. While the writing is directed at children, many of the illustrations have such subtle nuances that an adult can take great pleasure in reading the books along with their children. (For example, in Justin's home there are books on the shelf. An adult will understand the humor being conveyed, especially those familiar with Mr. Welling's other works.)

Justin Potemkin starts as fast as an Indy race; from the first page to the middle of the book, the reader enjoys brilliant writing and skillful illustrations, weaving a fictional story of the origins of the Indianapolis 500 Race from, of all places, Russia. The irony and play on words keep the adults captivated along with their children. The story wraps up nicely with Justin prevailing here in the States with the creation of the Indy 500 Race.

As much as I like Justin Potemkin I still think Andrew McGroundhog was Mr. Welling's crowning achievement. You just can't improve upon perfection but Potemkin is still a great book and its premise, writing and illustrations deserve 5 stars. Buy it and you will not be disappointed.

I have been a big fan of Mr Wellings childrens books since a local grade school turned my daughter on to a copy of 'Andrew McGroundhog and his shady shadow'. I was then in touch with the author via his website (http://www.peterjwelling.com), and he notifies me of upcoming projects. This book, his latest, is my facorite to date because of my love for indy-car type racing. Although I am primarily a CART fan, this book is more 'general', and references 500 history in general, including a touching dedication to Tony Bettenhausen. His works are so refreshing compared to most childrens books, which are repetitive and boring. A must have for anyone with children, and a thirst for challenging reading that teaches AND entertains, something that is hard to accomplish and rare to find. A five star read. Cant wait to find out whats next.........

What a great book. As a race fan with a 4 year old this is an easy pick at bed time. This is easy to read, extremely funny and very well illustrated with great colors that kids and adults will love.

I love how Mr. Welling wove historical and culture fact into the racing story line. With writing like this the book will be read for years and years and appreciated in a different way everytime it's read. Keep an eye out for all of the little signs and characters and racing / cultural reference in the background! It's like literary "I Spy".

Happy Reading!

Justin Potemkin and the 500- Mile Race takes a creative look at the Russian beginnings of the Indianapolis 500. For years, Czar Mos Romoonoff sponsored and won the Russian 500-Mile Race, usually by cheating. Justin Potemkin has made it his goal to beat Czar Mos Romoonoff once and for all.

Justin Potemkin and the 500- Mile Race is best read aloud so that you get the full effect of the clever names. Like other books by Peter J. Welling, Justin Potemkin and the 500- Mile Race combines a little bit of culture and history with a good deal of humour. Throughout the pages, the author has scattered various Russian words. The translation and pronunciation of these words as well as various animal sounds in Russian are found at the back of this book.

I'm willing to bet that most people think the Indy 500 was organized by car people. Shows what they know.

Any addition to Peter Welling's delightful series of picture books is welcome, and his whimsical story of how a frustrated Russian hare manages to break a tsarist version of the Babe's Curse is no exception. Colorfully illustrated by the author, it contains enough puns, wordplay and his signature language lessons to entertain tots, teens and anyone else.

Enjoy!