The Crazy Crawler Crane And Other Very Short Truck Stories [Hardcover]

Mittie Cuetara (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up

The fourteen stories in this book are very short, very original, and will take readers for a great ride! Each story is told in four rhyming lines and four illustrated panels, with a turn of the page starting a new one. They are all about trucks and vehicles, including the crawler crane of the title, some dizzy delivery vans, an excavator with terrible table manners, and many more. Zany and silly, each story is as quirky and imaginative as the next, and good for a laugh. The art style is contemporary, sophisticated, and pointedly whimsical. The text is clever and short, perfect for the busy parents of today's on-the-move youngsters. Truck lovers will go into high gear for these sly and satisfying tales. Mittie Cuetara is the author-illustrator of Terrible Teresa and Other Very Short Stories (Dutton). School Library Journal raved that it combined the originality of Jon Scieszka and the wit of Jack Prelutsky with Maira Kalman's style of illustration. An original, refreshing, and useful offering.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Truck lovers who've graduated from board book fare will take a fancy to this clever collection, which salutes 14 different vehicles in as many brief rhymes. Cuetara, reprising the succinct structure of her Terrible Teresa and Other Very Short Stories, devotes one spread per truck; each contains four cartoon panels with a neatly hand-lettered line of verse below. The table of contents reveals something for every young trucker's taste: Cuetara waxes rhapsodic over construction gear in "Cement Mixer," rental rides in "Moving Van" and municipal wheels in "Fire Truck" and "Garbage Truck" ("Kids think it's swell,/ except for the smell"). Most profiles show children interacting with these trucks and their drivers; for instance, a three-year-old boy dreams of operating a dump truck, a girl admires the lofty view from a cherry picker and in the title tale, "The crawler crane has gone insane./ Oh my gosh, it's grabbing Jane!/ Look out, Jane is angry now./ She kicks it in the treads, kapow!" The briefest, all of eight words, involves the distracted driver of a red convertible who yammers on his cell phone: "Yak yak!/ Ouch, smack!/ Bad luck!/ Tow truck." For truck aficionados, there's even a pen-and-ink drawing of the featured machine in the upper-right corner of each spread. Cuetera exploits her restrained format to full advantage, showcasing both her pithy wit and inventiveness. Ages 3-7.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Pres-K-Fourteen vehicles are featured in brief, humorous poems and cartoon illustrations on two-page spreads. A garbage truck is described as, "A tough metal shell.../strong personnel.../Kids think it's swell,/except for the smell," while in "Fire Truck," "The firefighters all looked tired./'Was it a bad one?' I inquired./Oh, yes, as bad as it could be-/a mean old cat in a big, tall tree." Youngsters will appreciate the verses about a busy cement mixer, a roaring ambulance, and a mighty excavator. In each spread, four separate panels illustrate the verses while a carefully rendered silhouette of the particular vehicle appears in the upper corner. The colorful illustrations are filled with smiling children and hard-hatted workers on construction sites. The poems are lighthearted and clever, but it's the trucks that will capture the attention of the intended audience.
Christine A. Moesch, Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; 1st edition (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525459510
• ISBN-13: 978-0525459514
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 3.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,555,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is not scary!, November 22, 2002

By 

Bob Rollins (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Crazy Crawler Crane And Other Very Short Truck Stories (Hardcover)

I was stunned to see that "The Reader from Missouri" found the pictures scary. The scariest thing that happens in these pictures is an exasperated school bus driver ends up with a banana peel on his head. I have shared this book with many, many kids and not one has been the least bit put off.

This is an excellent, clever, fun book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for Truck Fans, July 18, 2003

By 

Karen Zukor (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Crazy Crawler Crane And Other Very Short Truck Stories (Hardcover)

My 3-year-old son wants me to read "da tuck book" over and over. My 4-year-old girl can now identify all kinds of vehicles. It's one of our favorites!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My truck fanatic's favorite!, November 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Crazy Crawler Crane And Other Very Short Truck Stories (Hardcover)

My three year old son loves this book! He loves the pictures (not too scary at all) and the funny, silly poems. I like the fact that the drawings show women and people of color driving and enjoying trucks, in addition to white men.