Truckery Rhymes (Jon Scieszka's Trucktown) [Hardcover]

Jon Scieszka (Author), David Shannon (Illustrator), Loren Long (Illustrator), David Gordon (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Jon Scieszka's Trucktown

For generations these classic, high-octane rhymes, songs, and tales have been passed down from truck to truck. Lucky for us, the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature has collected them all into one really big, noisy volume. From “Peter Peter Payload Eater” to “Pop Blows the Diesel” to “Swing Around with Rosie,” all the classic truckery rhymes are here. Find out which one is your favorite!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3—This collection of lively truck-themed "Mother Goose" rhymes is filled with humor, although not all of them are equally nimble for reading aloud. Replacing the familiar lines for "Little Miss Muffet" are the words: "Little Dan Dumper sat on his bumper,/Taking his break for the day./Along came Pete Loader,/who revved his loud motor,/And frightened Dan Dumper away." The words for "Three Blind Mice" change to: "Three LOUD trucks./Three LOUD trucks./See how they ZOOM./See how they ZOOM./They all jumped over/the muck and goo./They skidded and screeched/and their mufflers blew./Did you ever see/such a crazy crew?/As three LOUD trucks./Three LOUD trucks." Fresh noisy lyrics for "The Wheels on the Bus" are great for singing exuberantly in storytime, "The siren on the truck goes whoop, whoop, whoop…." The digital illustrations are colorful, energetic, and playful: the vehicles have personality plus. One flashy spread shows all of them and their sound words from "The Wheels on the Truck," and another picture shows the ice-cream truck parked on a moon made of ice cream. This effervescent picture book will zoom off your shelves.—Kirsten Cutler, Sonoma County Library, CA
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About the Author

Jon Scieszka has written some of the bestselling and funniest books for children. He is a former elementary school teacher and an avid promoter of literacy. Jon lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers (August 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416941355
• ISBN-13: 978-1416941354
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,096 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Children's Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Humorous
  • #52 in Books > Children's Books > Transportation

More About the Author

Jon Scieszka was born in Flint, Michigan on September 8th, 1954. He grew up with five brothers, has the same birthday as Peter Sellers and the Virgin Mary, and a sneaking suspicion that the characters in his Dick and Jane reader were not of this world. Those plain facts, plus his elementary school principal dad, Louis, his registered nurse mom, Shirley (who once took Jon's Cub Scout den on a field trip to the prenatal ward), Mad Magazine, four years of pre-med undergrad, "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show", an M.F.A. in Fiction from Columbia University, Robert Benchley, five years of painting apartments in New York City, his lovely wife Jeri Hansen who introduced him to Molly Leach and Lane Smith, Green Eggs and Ham, his teenage daughter Casey and almost teenage son Jake, ten years of teaching a little bit of everything from first grade to eighth grade, and the last twenty years of living in Brooklyn...are just some of Jon's answers to the questions, "Where do you get your ideas?" and/or "How did you become a writer?" I don't know, just because, none of your beeswax, and flapdoodle poppycock and balderdash are some more of Jon's answers to questions you can imagine on your own. Jon met up with Lane Smith around 1986 or so, and nothing has been the same since. Their first book, the wiseguy fairy tale retelling, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! was initially rejected by most publishers as "too weird" and "too sophisticated". Published by Viking in 1989, The True Story has now sold over a million copies, been translated into ten languages, and been called a "classic picture book for all ages". Jon and Lane's The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (1992) took the world of the picture book a few steps further. Goofing with the conventions of fairy tales and even being a book, The Stinky Cheese Man became a household word, sold another mess of copies in multiple languages, offended a few purists, and still managed to win a Caldecott Honor medal. Math Curse (1995) further stretched the notion of what subjects make good picture books, selling more books faster than either 3 Little Pigs or Stinky Cheese, and winning a whole slew of awards --all for a book full of mathematics.More recently, Jon and Lane have resurrected fables (in the smart, funny, and a little bit wicked way Aesop would have wanted them) in their latest collaboration, Squids Will Be Squids (1998). No telling where they might take the picture book next. Someone once wrote, "Jon Scieszka has forever changed the face of children's literature." And while there is still some confusion over exactly who that someone was, and whether children's literature does, in fact, have a face, most would agree-from The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! to Squids Will Be Squids, since Scieszka put pen to paper, children's literature sure has been...different.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, September 15, 2009

By 

2 boys' Mom (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Truckery Rhymes (Jon Scieszka's Trucktown) (Hardcover)

We borrowed this book from the library and plan on buying it for our boys for Christmas! Our sons love this book and we read it about 10-15 times a day, no exaggeration! Actually, my 1.5 year old is trying to get me to read it right now. In this book, the Trucktown crew has changed the words to nursery rhymes and songs to fit Trucktown characters and it is wonderful! I catch our 3 year old singing the new versions all the time! This is a good investment for any parents with young boys.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My 2-year-old likes it., November 13, 2009

By 

Christine Knox "ck" (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Truckery Rhymes (Jon Scieszka's Trucktown) (Hardcover)

I bought this book because my two-year-old little boy loves trucks. So I figured I'd give the book a shot since all the rhymes are truck-themed. The rhymes themselves are based off of traditional nursery rhymes like "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" or "Three Blind Mice" for example. It turns out he loves the book and will gladly let me read it to him from cover to cover. He really enjoys all the different types of trucks in it. It's nice too because I have learned some of the ryhmes from reading it numerous times and can recite them during boring tasks such as hand-washing or diaper-changing to keep him more engaged. I'm very happy with this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truckery Rhymes, November 1, 2009

By 

E. Haak (PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Truckery Rhymes (Jon Scieszka's Trucktown) (Hardcover)

We LOVE this book, it is funny, cute, gets us singing. It has every common rhyme or song that you would sing with your kids. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star; Humpty Dumpty; Little Miss Muffet; Wheels on the Bus; but each song has the words changed to be about the Trucktown trucks. It is great!