Big Rig Rescue!

November 16, 2020
A semi “haulin’ tons of scrap” has rolled over in a swirling snowstorm. The driver is unhurt, but getting this big rig cleared off the road is going to take some serious towing muscle. First on the scene is 14-wheeler Big Orange, whose bearded, pale-skinned driver narrates the story. After ensuring safety at the site (“A tanker arrives to drain the fuel”) and slicing through a twisted guardrail (“I love my metal-cutting rescue saw”), the narrator tries to lift the trailer with strategically placed airbags and winching—one of many vivid procedural scenes. But the toppled rig refuses to budge until another tow truck, Big Blue, arrives, piloted by a tan-skinned figure with a long ponytail and pink gloves. The two drivers hook cables onto either side of the semi, and with some get-’er-done engineering (“We run my line through a snatch block on the trailer to give us extra power”), the semi is righted (“Great roll, everyone!”), and it’s back onto the icy road. Gall’s (Jumbo: The Making of the Boeing 747) storytelling is as muscular as the rigs he celebrates: precisionist-style renderings continually move around and over the scene to satisfy the curiosity of truck aficionados, while detail-rich, matter-of-fact prose honors their enthusiasm and knowledge. Ages 3–5. Agent: Erica Rand Silverman, Stimola Literary.

December 1, 2020
Rescue vehicles meet a complex problem with some seriously adult tools. There's a wreck on the highway! Snowy conditions have left a semi on its side, the scrap it was hauling spilling out at the rear. Good thing Big Orange is on the job. This tow truck has "14 wheels, a boom, a hook, and....Oh yes. A winch!" But this isn't a job it can do alone. The driver needs a tanker to drain the semi's fuel and a second rig called Big Blue to help get that semi in an upright position. That done, a new flatbed will drive away with the trailer, and what's left will head off to the repair shop. That is, until a patch of black ice makes a new rescue mission necessary. Texture comes primarily in the form of snow on an icy winter's day. Otherwise, Gall's art has a Playmobil's smooth feel, rendering trees as perfect cones and human figures little more than foils to the equipment they wield. (All humans have pale skin, though a couple are slightly browner than the driver of Big Orange.) From the rescue saw through the outriggers to the trailer's snatch block, the solution to the semi's problem may prove just as fascinating to adult readers as their truck-loving offspring. Most specialized vocabulary is set in boldface and italicized, but not, maddeningly, that snatch block, nor is it clear what exactly that particular piece of equipment is. Look to the helpers in this love song to rescue vehicles in cold, remote places. (Picture book. 3-7)

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December 1, 2020
Preschool-Kindergarten When a semitrailer runs off a mountain road during a snowstorm and lands on its side, two hefty, well-equipped tow trucks hurry to the scene. After ensuring everyone's safety, the operator of Big Orange lowers its outriggers, attaches straps and a cable, and attempts to pull the truck upright, but it's too heavy. Big Blue arrives and its driver attaches her truck's cable and chain to the tractor. Hauling together, the two vehicles soon right the semi and lift its trailer onto the flatbed truck that carries it away. Towing the tractor, Big Orange hits a patch of black ice, slides off the road, and topples into a snowbank. Big Blue to the rescue! In the pleasing digital illustrations, the colorful trucks show up well against the snowy fields and skies. Gall, whose previous vehicle-related picture books include The Littlest Train (2017) and Jumbo (2020), offers a simple, realistic story here, and the level of technical detail (not overwhelming, but more informative than your average adult reader might expect) will hit the sweet spot for many young truck fans.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.