I Am a Backhoe, by Anna Grossnickle Hines

Hines, Anna Grossnickle.  I Am a Backhoe.  Illustrated by Anna Grossnickle Hines. Tricycle Press, 2010. 32 pages. $12.99, ISBN 978-1-58246-306-3

AGE LEVEL
1 and 2 year-olds

GENRE
Nonfiction

REVIEW

A happy toddler uses his whole body to dig, stretch, push, and roll, imagining himself to be a series of six trucks commonly used on construction sites.  Young children will enjoy trying out each movement themselves, and on subsequent readings, trying to remember the corresponding truck which appears on the page after each movement.  The images of the toddler are clear, yet just a tad too ordinary, so the background washes of various hues of primary and secondary colors add some welcome interest to the overall visual experience of the book.  The last several pages of the story focus on the themes of family togetherness and literacy, as the boy’s father joins in the play and pretends to be a flatbed truck, delivering his son to the couch so that they can read a book together.  Overall, this book’s combination of almost perfect pacing and positive themes, together with its encouragement of imaginative play and the development of gross motor skills, make it a winning choice for toddlers.

LIBRARY PROGRAMMING
While reading the book aloud, encourage children to try the protagonist's moves themselves.  Follow this up with more motor skills practice using action rhymes.