Tuesday Storytime: Monster Trucks

Last storytime before summer reading kicks off, and I ended up with a trio of books about monster trucks and a room full of ONLY girls! I love it. The girls and their moms really got a kick out of the "non-traditional" theme, so it was a win (unintentionally) for everyone!

Elbow Grease
John Cena, illustrated by Howard McWilliam
ISBN: 9781524773519
Elbow Grease is the smallest (and the only ELECTRIC) truck in the demo derby, but he and his slew of older brothers don't let that bother them. He's got the most gumption, and that's all that matters. When he stays up all night (skipping his nightly recharge) to play hookey to get to the big-name derby across town, his brothers show up to support him as he tries his best to keep up with the big dogs, with a little help from a lightning storm to recharge his batteries along the way. A cute message about tenacity, brotherly love, and the inevitable influx of electric cars into every facet of life.

Monster Trucks
A Bobbie Kalman Book
ISBN: 9780778730194
Photo-book, mainly used for key-words and for the real-life photography of the monster trucks involved. Lots of technical details glossed gently over in favor of getting to the general point: big tires, safety cage, fancy paint, fun names, lots of history, squishing cars.

Mighty Truck
Chris Barton, illustrated by Troy Cummings
ISBN: 9780062344786
Clarence is a normal oversized work truck, with perhaps an over-fondness for playing in the dirt, until a lightning-powered wash-cycle turns him into the blazing powerhouse that is Mighty Truck! He roams around town saving friends and strangers until he gets all dirty again, and realizes that he's just as happy keeping his secret identity a secret until it's needed again - it's way more fun to play in the dirt anyway.

Picture Book Roundup: Nonfiction! The Day-Glo Brothers, Flight of the Honey Bee

And this post marks the last of the great pile of new books we got on Monday.  One final biography, and a really great naturalist book.

The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors

Chris Barton, illustrated (IN DAY-GLO!!) by Tony Persiani

ISBN: 9781570916731
(Robert F. Siebert Honor Book)
Dexters Laboratory-style line drawings, with bright fluorescent colors and DAY-GLO!!! 

Did you ever think about who invented those eye-searing day-glo colors?  Me either!  And that's a shame, because it's a great story.  These two brothers had ambitions: Bob wanted to be a doctor, and Joe wanted to be a famous stage magician.  Sadly, life didn't work out for those ambitions - Bob hit his head, and Joe's magic needed some sort of extra spark to catch the eye of talent scouts.  Instead of getting discouraged, the brothers worked together - first discovering and marketing regular ultraviolet-fluorescing colors, then (accidentally) discovering the secret to DAY-GLO EYE SEARING COLORS!!!

And now you know!  Go read the book, seriously - it's awesome!

Flight of the Honey Bee
Raymond Huber, illustrated by Brian Lovelock
ISBN: 9780763667603
pen & ink, watercolors, and pencil, perspective-forced oversize bees, hyperfocus.

This is a lovely book.  Lots of detail in the artwork, but the text is simple and straightforward, following the adventures of a bee scout, sent to find a good source of pollen and nectar for the hive.  Scout braves birds and storms, finds a lovely patch of flowers, escapes from wasps, and figure-8-dances the directions to her sister bees.  The story includes factual details about the story elements on that spread, and the endpapers feature ways to help preserve honeybees, and an index.  I like that the book, despite the picture-book appearance, has many features of nonfiction for older readers; page numbers, index, text notes.  This would be a great picture-book to pair with a bedtime chapter-by-chapter reading of The Adventures of Maya the Bee.