Trucker and Train, written by Hannah Stark, reviewed by Klaudia Janek

Student Reviewer: Andrew C.
Summary: The story is about a truck that would try to rule the roads by obnoxiously honking his horn. One day, the truck was hauling far from the city to where it encountered a valley. In this valley, the truck meets a train and tries to challenge it to a race. He realized that he was no longer the loudest vehicle around. His horn and engine did not compare to the train’s horn and engine. He was beating the train until he reached a closed gate. He quickly became angry at the fact that he was the one that had to stop. He started honking at the other cars and mopeds, but no one moved for him. All the cars were fascinated by the train, and the truck quickly became jealous because no one would look at him like the train. Afterwards, no one would pay attention to Trucker, until he found his time to shine. He noticed that there was a broken train gate. He rushed down the road to block all incoming cars. At first, all the cars and mopeds were angry at Trucker. They were all honking at him. This made Trucker very uncomfortable. However, it was all worth it as Trucker had saved all the cars and mopeds from the incoming train. After that, everyone was happy to share the road with Trucker, and Trucker was happy to share the road with the others.

Straight Talk for Librarians: This book can be used to teach kids a lesson about sharing things with others, being aware of how you are acting around others (in the case of Trucker, it is being obnoxious), and not to bully others just because you are bigger than others. It does this through a fun extended metaphor of a truck and cars and nice illustrations. Also, the book uses many long words and synonyms when describing the cars and mopeds and Trucker. Trucker learned that being loud and obnoxious will not give him the attention he wanted. He learned this lesson when no one would pay attention to him after the train and saved everyone from the incoming train from the broken gate. There is also a lot of counting in the book. This is a great way for emerging readers to learn counting. Readers who love trains and trucks will probably love this book. It would be a good fit for a transportation book display in the library. There is a lot to discover in the illustrations and readers will probably want this one read to them again and again.