Smash! Mash! Crash! There Goes the Trash!

by Barbara Odanaka

THE GARBAGE TRUCKS
ARE HERE TODAY!

Smashing, mashing,
lights a-flashing,
gobblin' garbage,
GULPITY-GULP.

From castaway furniture to last night's leftovers, no job is too big or too small for this rugged team. With an upbeat, rhythmic text, Smash! Mash! Crash! There Goes the Trash! follows two garbage trucks on their route. What results is a stinky, roaring, rumbling mess -- and LOADS OF FUN!

Genres: Picture Books, Storytime, Trucks, Childrens, Juvenile, Fiction, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2006

About the author

I'm an author of four rhyming picture books published by Simon and Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry Books and G.P. Putnam's Sons.

I wrote my first story at age 6 after discovering my grandparents' typewriter—a manual Royal model dating to the 1930s. The story was titled "The Happy Hamster" and dedicated to my first of many pet hamsters (Hamlet).

Before becoming an author, I was a sports reporter for the Los Angeles Times. At one point, one of my editors asked me why I was rhyming some of the lines in my columns. "Rhyming?" I asked, incredulous. "Yes, rhyming," the editor answered, pointing to the lines in question. That's when it dawned on me: maybe it was time to trade daily journalism for my lifelong dream of writing for children!

I love cats, chocolate and inspiring children through my school visits (in-person and virtual)!

Reviews

[Joey Alison Sayers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, this book gets any stars at all because my 2.5-year-old likes it, and because it's super cute listening to her say the title. But, you guys! Nearly everything that is thrown into the trash truck is compostable. I mean, yes I've lived in the SF Bay Area most of my life, and yes we have curbside composting, so yes I'm kind of a hippie by default. But man, we've got to divert food waste out of our landfills, man. Seriously, though, compost is amazing. I'm not a perfect environmentalist or anything, but this book would have been way better if it had consisted of only non-recyclable, non-compostable, non-renewable items being eaten by those trash trucks.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Will Hillenbrand, but my heart belongs to Trashy Town and I Stink!

[Erin Buhr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whenever we come home from the library my kids tend to latch on to one or two books for the week ahead. This week they demand SMASH! MASH! CRASH! THERE GOES THE TRASH! many, many times a day. Barbara Odanaka's rendition of trash pickup is exciting, colorful, and disgustingly accurate. Where my children find delight at the loud "booming, banging", the workers with "greasy gloves...sticky boots" and the fly infested "gooey, gloppy" garbage rituals, I pause. Garbage is gross. Odanaka has relayed it in a way that toddlers find fascinating. For me, the book reminds me that I need to redouble my efforts to live more simplistically and environmentally conscious. For the week though, I will enthusiastically embrace their curiosity and read about the "rolling bug buffet" energetically to encourage their wonder of the world.

[Samantha Penrose · Rating 5 out of 5]

My boys just cant get enough of this one...
Who doesn't love peering out the window at obscenely early hours to watch the garbage men at work?!
This book has great rhythm and rhyme and has very detailed descriptions of yucky garbage can contents....dirty diapers, moldy bread, rotten eggs....just what a little boy wants to hear about!
My three year old asks to have this read to him over and over and both he and my five year old quickly committed most of it to memory.
A must read for any child fascinated by the garbage man.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

July 2016 - not quite as much fun to read as Trashy Town, and not quite as thorough as I Stink!, but still lots of fun for Ben, who's into garbage trucks lately.

May 2017 - Ben is still a fan of garbage trucks, and even more into it this time - he's been talking about it at random times and loves that the garbage truck "eats" things.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's to a world where there simply can't be enough children's books about trash trucks. There's 'I Stink' and, of course, 'Trashy Town,' then along comes this charmer, a newcomer to our collection. Similarities abound and my 4 year-old took notice right away. Cute, though, and will likely see a repeated reading or seven.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short and simple introduction to trash trucks and what they do. There is not very much explanation, so it certainly would encourage dialogic reading for that reason. It would be best for a very young audience because of its simplicity--good for kids who are more likely looking at the pictures than reading the story.

[Steve_sonderman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. The illustrations were unique. The rhyme was basic and used a lot of onomatopoeia. The book looked at the sights and noises that are present when the garbage is picked up in the morning. I haven't seen a children's book like it. The book could be used to teach children the about rhyme as well as introduce them to onomatopoeia.

[Arnela · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's cute and fun, the story is a rhyme, the truck looks like a monster eating the trash.

It's just a fun read for both kids and parents. I don't understand why kids love learning about jobs, or why they seem really interested in like garbage workers, fire people, mail people, but this is definitely a book for a kid that has a toy garbage truck.

[Edna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two little pigs get up early to watch and listen to the sights and sounds created by the garbage truck gathers trash in their neighborhood. A fun read aloud book with single words that describe the action, sounds and smells of the city. (4-8 yrs)

[Tabatha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the rhyming in this book. The hard sound of each word really worked well with the book's theme of garbage trucks mashing up garbage. It really got the toddler's attention. I would use this book again in the future.

[Kalynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book focused on garbage and garbage collectors, with many visual and audible words...onomatopoeia. Borrowed it from the library to go with our neighborhood focus in first grade, but will most likely use it for our community jobs focus in kinder.

[Asho · Rating 4 out of 5]

My garbage-truck-obsessed kid loved this, of course! He had a lot of questions about why the garbage men are pigs instead of people. I thought it was a bit gross-out at times, but I think that was part of the appeal for him.

[Cristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

so cute and fun to read!

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another picture book for boys who like trucks. Simple rhyming text with brightly colors illustrations, the garbage trucks even has a face.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fun noise word book. Rhyming makes it a good read-aloud, although it may have been a little easy for my 5 yr old...

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Presents a rhyming imitation of all the sights and sounds of the neighborhood on trash day.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book fit well into the theme of Trashy/Smelly for PreSchool Story Time. The garbage truck illustration had the truck with eyes & mouth/teeth at the back. Cute

[jacky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Natalie picked this book out herself. She liked the pigs on the back cover. We read it several nights in a row. Its a fun title about trash trucks.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

My boys love this book. The descriptive sounds, the rhymes, and the trash made them laugh.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great language and Hillendbrand's illustrations add personality and humor. Great for kids who love the garbage truck!

[Ella Zig · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of my sons favorite books.
he loves garbage trucks.
he loves rhyming books.
he loves humor.

it checks, checks, checks all 3 for a 3 year old boy.

good read.

[Peggy Archer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to read, great language!

[Adriana (SaltyBadgerADii) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book for my siblings who love seeing the garbage trucks. And this is about as cute as a garbage truck can get Haha

[Jennifer Heise]

This is a book for all those preschoolers who are entranced by trucks and heavy equipment, especially very LOUD trucks, especially garbage trucks.

Two little pig children wake up with a thrill because they hear the GARBAGE TRUCKS coming. In rhyming couplets, we celebrate the noises, the intriguing grossness, the thrill of the watching the trucks and their ingestion of trash, and finally, the opportunity to imitate the whole thing with one's own toys.

Lots of opportunity for wordfun, shouting along with the reader, and rhyming; brightly colored illustrations showing trash, trucks and (pig) sanitation workers along with some hanging-about dogs will capture the attention of most truck-lovers and all garbage truck fans. Pair with I Stink! and Trashy Town for a garbage-truck readathon.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is interesting. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. It was a bit gross. My daughter picked it up at the library but she didn't seem to love how gross the book was. It was interesting to show her how the garbage gets picked up (she sees the garbage truck come once a week). But I wish it had some info in there about recycling too.

I felt myself stumble on several of the stanzas. I feel like kids who like gross, gooey stuff will enjoy this book much more than my daughter and I did. I think I probably would have appreciate it more if there was at least some tips on recycling at the end of the book or something.

The pictures were colorful.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two little pigs wake up early to witness the garbage trucks "smashing, mashing, lights a-flashing, gobblin' garbage" around the neighborhood. This is a high energy rhyming picture book with plenty of gross garage: rotten eggs, apple cores, stinky diapers, and more. A fun book to read aloud! Pair with Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha's Trashy Town.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Watch out! Here comes the garbage truck! A great story for storytime.

[AFP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Onomatopoeia in spades - sure to provide a ton of giggles from the littles.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book with zoomorphic garbage trucks swallowing garbage, lots of good sound and description words. Went over well in storytime and led well into rhyme about dealing with garbage.