Review: My First Trucks and Diggers: Let's Get Driving!

My son would give this book five stars if he understood the concept of a rating system or had any kind of number sense beyond the numbers one and two. I give this book a solid one star, based on the number of times I have had to read this nightmare of a book. This averages out to four stars, because I have no idea how averages work.

The challenge when reading this book is that the text is all over the pages and I end up reading it in a different order every single time. Also, my son does not like it when I point at the different vehicles and often moves my hand away forcefully. This hurts my feelings.

I have read this book so many times that it is imprinted in my brain. I can see every page, connect the various random phrases without even looking at them, and tell you what is happening next. Oh wait, I can't tell you what is happening next because this book has absolutely no plot. No, it is just pages and pages of various vehicles, helpfully labelled, with a few sentences sprinkled in to give you a taste of an adventure (i.e. out on the open road!) but without any of the meat of an actual plot.

I have tried to read the whole book in the voice of that guy from the monster truck commercials, but my wife has told me that my yelling is not helpful to our son's development.

One benefit of this book is that I find myself nodding knowledgeably to myself whenever I pass a construction site. "Graders grade and loaders load," I say to myself smugly. Then I turn to whoever has the good fortune of sitting in my vicinity, "you know," I say knowledgeably, "graders grade and loaders load." People are always very impressed.

Of course, not all of the information in this book is accurate. For example, there is a picture of a young man in a construction helmet labelled "construction worker." Let me tell you something about this fellow, not only is he not a part of any recognized union, but he is actually too young to be any kind of legal construction worker. Moreover, his construction helmet is actually a toy and his tools are merely props.

 I have hidden this book from my son for the third time. He has not found it. Yet. I have set the date I finished this book to February 21, 2020. Be warned, however, as no one is ever truly done this book when your child loves trucks and diggers.