From School Library Journal
PreSchool-K–Digging is all in a day's work for Mr. Rally and his dog, Lightning. His projects include moving dirt and rocks on a bridge, making a drain for the rain, removing a load on the road, digging a hole for a pool in the school, and leveling a site for "a zoo, all brand new." Readers follow Mr. Rally as he gets to work, step-by-step, getting dressed, reviewing the big jobs for the day, and completing all five of them. And when each task is done, a peppy response follows and elicits young readers' recitation: "Dig up rock and dig up clay!/Dig up dirt and dig all day!/Good job, Mr. Rally!/Good job, Lightning!/Mr. Rally waves good-bye./Is all the digging done? No!" The final scene shows Mr. Rally at home, preparing his garden, and Lightning digging a hole, burying his five treasures in the yard. Earth-tone illustrations are created with watercolor and Prismacolor pencil. Although the vocabulary isn't controlled for a true early reader, the pace, repetition, and word choices make the book appropriate for beginning readers. The uncluttered art, catchy refrain, and focus on heavy machinery make it a natural for storytimes.
–Marian Creamer, Children's Literature Alive, Portland, OR Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PreS. With help from his trusty dog, Lightning, and his big yellow backhoe, Mr. Rally is ready for any digging job. Lively pictures and words follow him through a day of five separate assignments that give the story the added fun of a counting exercise. The simple, bouncy text, with a rhyming refrain that will encourage young children to chant along, describes Mr. Rally's progress from site to site, concluding with a surprise at the end of the day that finds Mr. Rally still doing what he loves best, even after turning in his backhoe. Rosenthal's illustrations, rendered in earthy greens and browns, feature stylized shapes and thick black outlines reminiscent of Wanda Gag's work. They extend the humor and activity with extra jokes: at each site, for example, Lightning finds a bone for his collection, which he buries with a wink at the story's end. Full of action and rhythm, this winning picture book, by a husband-and-wife team, will delight preschoolers who dream of their own big-engine, dirt-digging adventures.
Gillian EngbergCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
