Title: Little Blue Truck
Author: Alice Schertle
Illustrator: Jill McElmurry
Age Group: 0-6 years
Synopsis: Little Blue Truck makes friends with barnyard animals and teaches us the lessons of helping everyone and being polite and friendly. Beep! Beep!
The Low Down: I received two of these from each pair of grandparents when Bug was born. One was Little Blue Truck and the other was Little Blue Truck Takes the Lead. I smiled politely but thought, Nope! Looking back I’m not sure why I did that. The illustrations are cute and the morals are nicely displayed but for some reason this wasn’t a jump off the shelf and grab you kind of book for me (I guess that’s why they were presents not purchases).
That being said, Little Blue Truck has grown on me. The rhyming story makes it an easy book to remember for when you have to entertain a little one on the go with nothing on hand. Bug loves chiming in with the “Beeps!” I also enjoyed the font in the story. That sounds dumb but hear me out. The animals each have a different bold, colored font for their noise and when the truck swerves the letters swerve with him. Looking into the future, I imagine that’ll really help Bug with his reading skills because he’ll be able to identify the word based on the extra information provided (i.e. Little Blue’s words are always, you guessed it, blue). I’m foreshadowing my own life but time will tell. He used to be more excited about the animals, which feature throughout the story, but as he’s discovered anything with wheels he loves the dump truck and Little Blue, of course.
I wasn’t sure how much Bug loved Little Blue until recently. We were in Malta this spring and were 
sitting having lunch, when a little blue truck pulled into the town square. Bug was slack-jawed. “Mama,” he whispered. “Blue truck!” As we approached it he didn’t run but walked in a daze. We circled it and he looked from the storybook (how extremely serendipitous that we had Little Blue Truck with us) to the tuck. It was memorable. How many of us get to meet our literary idols? The best part was that the driver honked his horn for Bug as he left. “Beep!” Bug called after him.
Story Tips:
- I believe you have to read this one more than once to find it’s charm.
- It’s great for teaching animal noises. Bug chimes in when he knows the answer and helps build his reading confidence.
I need more!
Little Blue is busy and visits the city to meet other vehicles in the sequel: Little Blue Truck Leads the Way. There’s also a Beep-along book (looks like it makes noise) and a sticker book. Alice Schertle has quite a few other titles that I’ve not read but feel free to let me know if there’s one you like in the comments below.
Add to my library:
UK Amazon:Little Blue Truck
US Amazon:Little Blue Truck board book
