Common Sense Media Review
By Jan Carr
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Fun, fast-paced construction story is truck lover's delight.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 2+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In LITTLE EXCAVATOR, a crew of burly construction trucks transforms a trash-strewn lot into a beautiful park. Little E (for "Excavator") is the only little truck on the team -- and too little to do any of the work required. Though he keeps trying, he just seems to get in the big trucks' way. But when the big trucks install a small bridge to reach an island in the middle of the pond, Little E is the only one who can fit over the narrow bridge to reach the island. There, he digs a hole and plants a tree, making him a "mighty little excavator" indeed.
Is It Any Good?
This upbeat book featuring a crew of hardworking construction trucks plus one pint-sized but determined little excavator is a natural for young truck lovers. Little Excavator has an encouraging moral about hard work, persistence, and the special contributions of the young embedded in a story about beautifying a neglected and trash-filled vacant lot.
Author-illustrator Anna Dewdney is a master at rhyme, which is never as easy as it looks. She keeps her rhymes simple so the rhythms scan and roll easily off the tongue, while sprinkling them with lots of really fun, rumbly words for construction sounds -- for instance, "GrrrrrrRrarrrrrrm! goes the LOADER, lifting up the trash! Pusha-pusha smusha-smusha SMASH SMASH SMASH!" How fun is that! The book's a pleasure to read, allowing parents and kids alike to channel a host of inner -- and noisy -- construction trucks.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the various construction vehicles in Little Excavator. Can you name them?
What specific jobs can each truck do? How are the trucks designed to do them?
Do you ever feel like Little E: too little to do big jobs? What jobs are just right for you?
Book Details
- Author: Anna Dewdney
- Illustrator: Anna Dewdney
- Genre: Picture Book
- Topics: Cars and Trucks , Great Boy Role Models
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
- Publication date: June 6, 2017
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 2 - 5
- Number of pages: 44
- Available on: Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: July 13, 2017
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