Truckeroo School

May 15, 2017
Kirk (Oh So Brave Dragon) transports readers to the profoundly weird land of Truckeroo, whose citizens all drive custom-made trucks that correspond to their interests and personalities: “Before they make their diaper wet,/ they build a friend, a truck—a pet!” The Truckeroovians themselves are multicolored, goblinlike creatures with glassy eyes, bulbous noses, and various tentacles, horns, and tails. Their grinning vehicles are just as, er, distinctive: one has a giant pig’s head, another has a toilet for a seat, and a third is a snot-spewing dragon. As the day proceeds, the creatures move from a parking lot art class to a chaotic music lesson to snack time (“Is it already time to eat?/ Young monsters must have something sweet./ Their trucks however all require/ meals that explode or catch on fire”). Some readers will soak up the hallucinogenic strangeness; others will wonder what they just read. Ages 3–6. Agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary.

June 1, 2017
Preschool-K Known for the Miss Spider series, Kirk envisions a fantasy world where baby monsters create companion trucks and then all go together to Truckeroo School. Before they make their diaper wet, / they build a friend, a trucka pet! Adults may pause at the images of Budge, a rather large monster driving a truck with a pig's head, or Persmella, a dainty lass admired for spewing stinky gas, dancing on a toilet truck, but the message that the brightly colored monsters come in all shapes and sizes is nevertheless subtle and effective. As monsters, the characters do not follow human expectations on manners or behaviors, but by the end of the story, more conventional norms emerge. The school day is full of imaginative truck-monster fun, but the last few images show parents thoughtfully maintaining their mechanical pals, and the little monsters trying to learn how to be as adept as their parents, or even better. Humorous couplets keep the narrative moving at a lively pace, and the watercolor-and-gouache illustrations are full of comic detail.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)