Customer Reviews

Who's That Truck? (Jon Scieszka's Trucktown)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Jon Scieszka and company have created a terrific new book series with Trucktown. We already have "Smash! Crash!" and are anxiouly awaiting the next book in the series. In the meantime, "Who's that Truck?" has filled the void for my grandson; he loves identifying the trucks and associating them with the earlier book. There are lots of names to remember, so he goes over the various trucks and their jobs frequently. A good purchase - a great series for preK and K.
Smash! Crash! (Jon Scieszka's Trucktown)

My son is only 16 months but we read this book at least 3 times a day he loves it. He loves the rhyming and the trucks. It is a great series. As to the other peoples comments about the garbage truck being called a motormouth being sexist. I think they were just going for the fact that the garbage truck crunches trash all day like a mouth moving up and down. So I don't have a problem with it, and I'm a woman. So I would definitely recommend this book. Its great.

...but then tonight our 18 month old got upset when we got to the page about Garbage Truck Gabriella. We couldn't figure it out, until we looked very closely. The half ship on the opposite page from Gabriella has several teddy bears hanging on the inside!!! I'm not sure why this bothers my son, since there's no way he understands what hanging like that means, but as I went back to other pages he kept going back to that page and pointing and whining. I might cover the bears up with stickers to make it palatable. It's amazing the things kids notice.

I have to agree with the previous reviewer who called "Garbage Truck Gabriella" sexist. I would also add racist. Why is the garbage truck the only Hispanic character?

My child is only 8 months old. I read it a few times thinking I could get over it, but it just constantly makes me cringe. I'm taking it away so he doesn't get attached to it and ask me to read it over and over. We're about as white as you can get, and it's tough enough to integrate good life lessons about diversity without things like that derailing my efforts.

Aside from that, I'd still call the book disappointing and even boring. I'm not familiar with the series, but as-is, this book is just kindof pointless.

My son found "Meet Jack Truck" at the library a few months ago and it instantly became his favorite book. I agree with the preceeding reviewers who found it to be sexist. It really is. Also, the character of "Monster Truck Max" makes a thinly veiled reference to marijuana use when he brags about being a "pottyhead." Unfortunately, my toddler son loves this book, so in order to compensate for it's failings, I've started reading the part about Gabriella as "she loves to do math" instead of "she loves to talk." If your kid hasn't already seen these books, definitely don't get them started, there is so much great children's literature available that there is no reason to buy this junk.

I was a little disappointed with this book. I felt that the characterization of the garbage truck Gabriella as a "motormouth" was more than a little sexist. She is pink and has a teddy bear hanging on her. Why can't a girl truck be just as tough as "Payloader Pete?" I also felt that the picture of "Trucktown" in the back, which is lacking Monster Truck Max, falls short. My boys want to know why he isn't shown. It is the details in children's books that make them stand out. Parents have to read these books over and over--we notice the lack of attention to detail. Also, given the targeted age group, the font is distracting and confusing to my children. All-in-all, this book falls short on many levels.