We went drivin’ at the library the other day. In a big rig! Our buddy C picked out this cool book about a truck driving dad.
The book is titled DRIVE and was written and illustrated by Nathan Clement. It was published by Front Street in 2008.
C loved this book! I wasn’t quite into it. It was all about BIG. Big soft illustrations that were kind of hard for me to make out. But after the 2nd and 3rd reading, it all made sense to me. A little boy tells the story of Dad going off to work before the boy wakes up. The 1st page has a picture of a giant alarm clock and a kid’s head with a BIG truck outside the window. Dad drives to work. He drives at work. One picture is a close up of Dad inside the truck. It’s just his arm on the gearshift. We see Dad driving down the highway saying hello to other cars. He fills up with gas and drives home to play ball with the boy. Like I said, C loved this book. His favorite part was when Dad stopped at the truck stop for dinner!
So then we read a book called Truck Stop by Anne Rockwell and illustrated by Melissa Iwai. It was published by Viking in 2013.
This story was also told by a little boy. But this boy’s family owned the truck stop where the truck drivers came to eat. The truck stop family got up before the sun, just like the truck driver Dad. They drove to the truck stop to make breakfast for all the truckers. The same truckers came every morning. It was like a big family. They all knew each other and looked out for each other. There was even a girl driver! They all drove different kinds of trucks and had different stuff for breakfast. I liked this book best. It is full of happy people. Happy people taking care of each other.
Have you ever been to a truck stop? Have you ever been in one of those big trucks? I’ve been to a truck stop. They are full of lots of interesting smells and friendly people. I’ve never been on a big truck though. We have a lot of them always coming through our town. They make a lot of noise.
But if you like trucks, you should check out these books. They are both pretty unique.
Mr Clement has a great website with videos and activities and a look at how he does his artwork! Check it out here.
And Ms Iwai has some fun things on her website as well!
And here’s a little trucking music for you —
Be safe while you’re driving out there! And say Hi to the truckers!
Reading With Rhythm 