Little Blue Truck's Christmas: A Christmas Holiday Book for Kids

by Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry (Illustrator)

Overview

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Little Blue Truck is spreading cheer by delivering Christmas trees to his animal friends. Can you help count each green tree from one to five and back again? Don’t forget to save one for Blue! Beep! Beep!

With the gentle rhythm and signature illustration style that made Little Blue Truck a household name, Blue's new adventure is full of holiday warmth. Sturdy cardstock pages, a compact and child-friendly text, and flashing colored Christmas lights on the final page come together in a novelty gift book that’s sure to be the favorite treat of the season.
 

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544320413
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/23/2014
Series:	Little Blue Truck Series
Pages:	24
Sales rank:	9,284
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

ALICE SCHERTLE is a poet and the author of many well-loved books for children, including the beloved, best-selling Little Blue Truck series,Very Hairy Bear, Button Up!, and All You Need for a Snowman. She lives in Plainfield, Massachusetts.

Jill McElmurry is the illustrator of many picture books, including When Otis Courted Mama by Kathi Appelt and the best-selling Little Blue Truck series, written by Alice Schertle. She divides her time between the wide landscape of New Mexico and a green island in Minnesota. Visit her at www.jillmcelmurry.com

Editorial Reviews

09/15/2014
“Beep! Beep! Beep!/ December’s here!/ Little Blue Truck/ is full of cheer.” With a wreath affixed to his grill, Schertle’s Little Blue Truck is ready for Christmas, and his tree-delivering duties let readers work on their counting skills. After five trees are loaded into the truck, various animal families claim them: “ ‘Honk!’ says the goose./ ‘The big one, please!’/ Now there are four/ green Christmas trees.” Luckily, there’s a tree left for the Little Blue Truck—one that glows with flashing twinkle lights on the final spread of this lively story. Up to age 3. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

“Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes.”
—Kirkus

From the Publisher

10/01/2014
PreS—Sturdy pages and a simple counting story build up to the grand finale. The text counts up to five and back down to one as Little Blue Truck delivers trees up and down the hills, through the snow to his animal friends. He keeps the last for himself—and it lights up. The book will appeal to fans of the series, and it could also be a fun, if slight, addition to a baby/preschool holiday storytimes with the big payoff of the lit tree.—Anne Connor, Los Angeles Public Library

School Library Journal

2014-08-12
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals. The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad's Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue's friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck's own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it's a gimmick, it's a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown. Little Blue's fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it's the sparkling lights on the truck's own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler's eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews