Hard-Working Wheels

Lisa Arsenault is an elementary-school teacher in Ajax, Ontario.

The various services that working vehicles perform are described and
illustrated in this fun picture book for young children. Familiar
community vehicles such as police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, and
school buses are featured, as well as the less-familiar cherry picker
and bookmobile.

Each double-page spread is devoted to a particular vehicle. The
two-page format comprises a large, brightly colored illustration along
with a thumbnail description of the vehicle’s function and features.
The people in the pictures are rendered without detail, giving pride of
place to the “working wheels.”

The text’s language is imaginative and engaging: adjectives are
plentiful and examples of onomatopoeia abound. The rich abundance of
descriptive words makes the book an ideal choice for reading aloud.
Children may want to vary their tone, pitch, and volume (e.g., getting
louder when reading “Getting louder … louder … LOUD!” for the
firetruck). Those being read to may want act out what they hear (the
cherry picker “st-r-r-r-r-etches out its long steel arm”). Having
models of the vehicles available for children to manipulate while being
read to would certainly add to the fun! Highly recommended.