FIVE TRUCKS, by Brian Floca

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Ages 2 to 5
A Richard Jackson Book | DK Ink

A Child Magazine Best Book
A Children’s Literature Choice Book
A Booklist Editor’s Choice
A Bank Street College of Education Children’s Book of the Year
A Children’s Book Council Children’s Choice
A Main Selection of the Children’s Book of the Month Club

Booklist (Starred Review):
Add this title to your short list of Favorites for Truck Lovers. The book begins with a title-page illustration of a boy and a man struggling with a heavy suitcase; the scene shifts to five drivers walking toward their trucks. As the simple story unfolds, a series of five double-page spreads shows each driver at the wheel of his own special vehicle. One truck is large and heavy, another long and straight, but they are all headed in the same direction. The next series of spreads shows each truck in action: food is unloaded from the catering truck, luggage is unloaded from the baggage carts pulled by the tractor, luggage travels up the baggage conveyor, and so on, until the final image shows the drivers waving to an airplane as it climbs in the skies. Children who have never pressed their noses to an airport window may not recognize the setting, but others will have a chance to remember what airport trucks look like and learn what they do. If picture books about trucks are so easy to do, why do we see so many poor ones and so few as good as this? Floca offers a book that's simple enough for a two-year-old (prime age for the young truck enthusiast), without being boring or simple-minded. The artwork, ink line with watercolor washes, uses every spread to good advantage, showing the camaraderie of the drivers, and even the time of day, as clearly and subtly as the functions of the trucks. A pleasing picture book to read and (get ready, parents) reread. Carolyn Phelan.

School Library Journal:
In expressive watercolor cartoons, Floca introduces and describes the functions of five airport vehicles. The drivers, both male and female, seem to enjoy their work as they operate a catering truck, a tractor with baggage carts, a baggage conveyor, a tractor for checking airplane wheels, and a push-out tractor. Instructive, double-page, clear pictures and a simple text give a perfect explanation of the uses of these trucks. Pair this book with Byron Barton's Airport (Crowell, 1982) for an eye-opening look at what happens to aircraft on the ground. Ann Welton.

Horn Book:
"Five drivers for five trucks" begins this concept book, as five workers head out across a tarmac. A simple, descriptive statement on each spread introduces the trucks one at a time ("the first truck is large and heavy...the fourth truck twists and turns"); later spreads reveal the function of each truck. The slow, metered pace gains momentum as the spare information builds from spread to spread, culminating with the revelation that the five drivers and their trucks are preparing an airplane for take-off. Floca's watercolors zoom in on the machinery, showing the trucks and essential parts of the plane up close against washed-out backgrounds. The simplicity is engaging and age appropriate (even those who are clueless about airport operations will catch on quickly). And a second reading is even more fun than the first: at close inspection, there is more to see here than just a plane taking off. An orange-haired boy zooms a toy airplane across the inside front jacket flap toward the title page. And there he is on the title page tugging on Dad's belt and pointing out an oversized window while dad lugs an overstuffed, rainbow-colored plaid suitcase. We see the unmistakable suitcase again when "luggage is unloaded from the fourth truck" onto a (labeled) conveyor belt and when "the third truck carries luggage up its back" into the belly of the plane. And, lo and behold, there is the boy, waving from the airplane window just before take-off. Floca is adept at fleshing out and expanding our knowledge of the situation at hand with a few casual details. In the initial spread, one worker passes out cups of coffee as he catches up with the others. The following spread shows several discarded cups on the cab floor of the first truck-a subtle hint that the workers' routine is played out regularly. And, in the take-off scene, the workers wave to the departing plane, a simple gesture that effectively brings the boy's and the workers' stories together. Floca's ability to interweave so much story and atmosphere into a concept book is sure to raise our expectations of those to come. Marilyn Bousquin.

Kirkus Reviews:
Floca (The Frightful Story of Harry Walfish, 1997, etc.) offers a great explication of the small trucks that airline passengers see scurrying around jets on the runways. In brightly painted illustrations and simple descriptions, he introduces each vehicle, explains what it does, and shows it in action, e.g., the truck called the baggage conveyor is shown hoisting suitcases into the belly of the plane. All five trucks' duties point to a big finale when the plane takes off. Given preschoolers' well-documented fascination with heavy machinery, this book will strike a chord with young air travelers, and answer the questions of older travelers as well.