Little Blue Truck, by Alice Schertle

Horn went “Beep!”Engine purred.Friendliest soundsyou ever heard.

So begins Little Blue Truck, by Alice Schertle and illustrated by Jill McElmurry.  I found this story by chance one day when I was on a walk with my oldest (and at the time only) son.  It had been a stressful morning for both of us.  I was adjusting to a new job and he was adjusting to having daddy gone a little more often than normal.  I made it a point to pay extra attention to him that day, and while we were on our walk I thought the perfect activity would be to visit the local bookstore.

From as early as I can remember my son has been obsessed with trucks.  Perhaps it was the amount of noise they made.  Perhaps it was their obvious power.  Perhaps it was the mechanics involved.  Whatever the reason, his desire to participate in all things truck was unmatched by any other desire we had come across.  And while we were happy with his interest, we had often grown frustrated that we couldn’t hold his interest in other things.  All that changed with the introduction of Little Blue Truck.

Alice Schertle’s short story narrates the tale of a friendly little blue truck that spends his days driving about the countryside saying “Beep” to his farmyard friends.  It was the fact that the little truck was friendly with animals that began to interest my son in animal sounds, with which this story is filled.  Each friend the truck passes gives an “oink,” a “cluck,” a “moo,” or a “neigh.”

“Neigh!” said a horse.Quack!” said a duck.“Beep!” said the friendlyLittle Blue Truck.

During the friendly truck’s daily journey, a giant and rather rude dump truck blasts by, honking everyone out of the way.  But when that dump gets stuck, he quickly realizes the importance of having friends.  When all of little blue truck’s friends come to help push the dump at blue’s request, the dump learns that rudely honking won’t win you many social points.  And that, ultimately, was what made this story so important to my son.  I asked him the other day why he liked this story, and he said the following: “In the story that yellow dump truck isn’t thinking of other people but at the very end he’s being nice.”

While the story itself is wonderfully appealing, the illustrations are what really take this book to the next level.  Painted in gouache, the pictures are deep with texture and full with color, and the intensity of the colors and texture match the story’s brilliance and depth.  Combined with the pictures themselves, the text is highlighted by vividly colored words.  The majority of the narrative is in black text, while the sounds of the animals and the trucks are colored according to both mood and identity (the toad’s croaks are in green, the little truck’s beeps are in blue, etc.).  This adds to the overall richness of the story.

Alice Schertle has certainly outdone herself in this beautiful moral tale.  Children should thoroughly enjoy this story of friendship that illustrates not only the importance of kindness, but the ability of even the smallest creatures to make a big difference in the lives of others.