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Red Truck
When a school bus breaks down on the side of the road on a wet and rainy day, it is up to Mighty Red Truck to splash, zip, and zoom its way through the mud to rescue it, in a picture book by the author of Firefighters to the Rescue!
32 pages, Hardcover
First published February 14, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
March 31, 2014
I'm marking this book as "read", but more accurately I should mark it as currently reading 50x's a day, everyday. This is Nate's faaaaavortite book. He loves Red Truck. He is a Red Truck groupie. He traces his little finger on the road to show where Red Truck is going, it's so cute. The words are great in this book, it reads great and everyone in this house has it memorized, because Nate follows us around with it and hands it to whoever is willing. Fantastic illustrations too. Five big stars.
March 25, 2022
Cute little book. Our toddler really enjoys the pictures and story. No one reads it better than my husband though.
December 14, 2025
Red truck tried…. Red truck could!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 13, 2013
Red Truck would be a simple, fun book to read to a group of children. The pictures are simple and the grouping of rhyming words make it fun to read. I enjoyed that in each picture, there were different words that were in different colors. I also liked that the lines were so thick and harsh in the pictures. It fit well with the book, and it still had enough colors throughout it. The pictures were different. They look to me like they were simple to draw, maybe with some kind of marker. They weren't elaborately painted like some other childrens books. I also like that the children in the school bus saw the red truck as a hero because i'm sure tow trucks do not get that much credit often.
April 25, 2020
A favorite of my son for the past 4.5 years. We’ve read it many times from infant days and even now, despite it being more simplistic than some other things we read.
Red Truck is a tow truck, and the only one who can save the school bus on a stormy winter day. I Love the onomatopoeia/sound words throughout that make for fun reading with little ones, as well as the overall message about always trying things even if it’s hard. I often give this book as a baby shower gift since it has been an enduring favorite in our family.
Red Truck is a tow truck, and the only one who can save the school bus on a stormy winter day. I Love the onomatopoeia/sound words throughout that make for fun reading with little ones, as well as the overall message about always trying things even if it’s hard. I often give this book as a baby shower gift since it has been an enduring favorite in our family.
May 7, 2019
This would probably work for a toddler program. It has snow in it, though, so it would need to be in a more wintery month. A bus gets stuck in the slush on a rainy day, and the red truck comes to haul it out!
May 10, 2021
We’ve been reading this book for at least a year now. Bright colors, not too busy. Just right for littles attention span with lots of opportunities for fun reading and onomatopoeias that keep them engaged.
October 9, 2017
Good story of the red tow truck who comes to the rescue on a snowy day.
January 29, 2018
Cute story and illustrations.
May 3, 2018
A school bus breaks down but the little red tow truck comes along and saves the day.
April 11, 2019
95/365
October 23, 2019
A cute story about a red truck that helps save the day when a school bus gets stuck in the snow. It will be sure to please lovers of trucks.
November 27, 2019
This is my sons favorite book! We read it all the time. He doesn’t like the other books by this author as much but this is a def must have.
February 6, 2020
This is a cute and very simple book for storytime. I love that there are lots of onomatopoeias like VROOM and SPLOOSH! Having the kids repeat those words is a fun way to get them involved.
January 18, 2021
My son is a huge fan of Mater from Pixar Cars, so he cannot get enough of this book
July 18, 2022
My son’s favorite bedtime story for going on 3 years. He’s seven now.
November 4, 2022
"Hurry Red Truck, Hurry!" Is oft repeated in our home. A fun story about perseverance and a big red truck. The perfect toddler read.
July 6, 2023
Cute and engaging.
September 21, 2023
Simple but very fun to read with toddlers who are into trucks and/or buses. Especially if you go all in with sound effects and pretend movements. Vroom!
May 17, 2026
Cute. 3 year old liked it too
November 2, 2018
The rhyme scheme and simple, yet charming, pictures make this a great board book you won't mind reading again and again.
March 25, 2015
The simple children's book, Red Truck, wrriten by Kersten Hamilton, is a very good read for young children. It is about a small red tow truck that gets a call that a school bus is having trouble getting up a hill. The driver of the red truck hurries to help the school bus and ends up pulling it to safety and helping all of the children get to school. This is a great read for young boys but it is also such an exciting and cheerful book that young girls could be interested as well!
The text includes a sense of playfullness with the bolded and change in color to some specific words that were meant to be emphasized. As I was reading I noticed that it is a very simliar story line to that of, The Little Engine that Could. This was comforting and as a child, it would be an exciting moment to discover the connection between the two books. The word choice was not very strong but it makes it a quick and simple read as well as a great book to introduce children to as they are learning to read. Also, the placement of the text throughout the book created a playfull feeling because it was mostly scattered throughout the text but always played off of what was going on in the illustration such as when he was attempting to drive up a large hill, the text was written staggered down in the shape of a mountain.
The colors in this book are very simple. It is shown to be raining throughout the book to give a sense of sadness and hope that the school bus will be saved. Although the setting is weary and cold, the bright yellows and reds used for the cars and trucks brightened up the page and is a great tool to keep the child interested. Overall I thought this was a great, simple read for young children and very relatable.
The text includes a sense of playfullness with the bolded and change in color to some specific words that were meant to be emphasized. As I was reading I noticed that it is a very simliar story line to that of, The Little Engine that Could. This was comforting and as a child, it would be an exciting moment to discover the connection between the two books. The word choice was not very strong but it makes it a quick and simple read as well as a great book to introduce children to as they are learning to read. Also, the placement of the text throughout the book created a playfull feeling because it was mostly scattered throughout the text but always played off of what was going on in the illustration such as when he was attempting to drive up a large hill, the text was written staggered down in the shape of a mountain.
The colors in this book are very simple. It is shown to be raining throughout the book to give a sense of sadness and hope that the school bus will be saved. Although the setting is weary and cold, the bright yellows and reds used for the cars and trucks brightened up the page and is a great tool to keep the child interested. Overall I thought this was a great, simple read for young children and very relatable.
February 25, 2015
“Red Truck tried -- Red Truck could.” What are the town’s children to do when the bus is stuck through and through? Red Truck will save them, yes, that’s who!
Red Truck by Kersten Hamilton, and illustrated by Valeria Petrone is a fun, Suess-esque quick read. The story is quite the opposite of complex: Bus is stuck, children need help to get to school, Red Truck saves them, children celebrate Red Truck. This is in no way a bad thing considering the book’s target audience. The illustrations are also very appropriate with a “cute” aesthetic void of complexity. The flat, modernist revival look popular in contemporary children’s cartoons and books is actually done quite tastefully (unlike Cyberchase or any of that other PBS drivel). The compositions and typography are executed well and appear very animated for storytellers or librarians to narrate along with the audience. Plus, all of the rhyming and simple sentence structure should make children both smile and build basic phonetics and vocabulary.
Kersten Hamilton and Valeria Petrone’s “Red Truck” should apply in most K-2 situations for story time or basic language skills. Target audience: infant to five years and up.
Red Truck by Kersten Hamilton, and illustrated by Valeria Petrone is a fun, Suess-esque quick read. The story is quite the opposite of complex: Bus is stuck, children need help to get to school, Red Truck saves them, children celebrate Red Truck. This is in no way a bad thing considering the book’s target audience. The illustrations are also very appropriate with a “cute” aesthetic void of complexity. The flat, modernist revival look popular in contemporary children’s cartoons and books is actually done quite tastefully (unlike Cyberchase or any of that other PBS drivel). The compositions and typography are executed well and appear very animated for storytellers or librarians to narrate along with the audience. Plus, all of the rhyming and simple sentence structure should make children both smile and build basic phonetics and vocabulary.
Kersten Hamilton and Valeria Petrone’s “Red Truck” should apply in most K-2 situations for story time or basic language skills. Target audience: infant to five years and up.
June 20, 2012
It’s a snowy and slick wintery day and a school bus of children is stuck on a hill. The school bus driver calls up the mustachioed man, who starts up Red Truck and drives through the ice and snow to rescue the bus. A tow truck, Red Truck is able to up it up icy hills, zoooom!, and across muddy roads, sploooosh! The driver attaches the Red Truck to the bus and pulls, pulls, pulls until the bus is free of the ice and snow. The children make it to school and their “hero for a rainy day is Red Truck!”
The simple rhyming text of this book make it a good candidate for reading aloud to toddlers and preschoolers. Trucking-loving kids will love the shiny Red Truck and the sound effects interspersed in the text are fun to imitate. The painterly illustrations feature primary colored cars and trucks set against grey and backgrounds. The people are cartoonish, with skinny legs, round heads, and rectangle bodies.
Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2...
The simple rhyming text of this book make it a good candidate for reading aloud to toddlers and preschoolers. Trucking-loving kids will love the shiny Red Truck and the sound effects interspersed in the text are fun to imitate. The painterly illustrations feature primary colored cars and trucks set against grey and backgrounds. The people are cartoonish, with skinny legs, round heads, and rectangle bodies.
Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2...
May 11, 2013
Red Truck is about a red tow truck that must help a school bus that has gotten stuck in bad weather. This simple story has repetition, rhymes, and some alliteration as well, and sounds and certain other words are bold and colored to show their emphasis. Most of the illustrations are rounded with soft borders, and the trucks and cars are brightly colored and really stand out against the snowy, rainy backdrop. Babies and younger toddlers will enjoy this short little action adventure and it would make a good storytime book for these ages.
February 9, 2011
Usually, I miss big chunks of the books read during story time, but today this is the only one from which I missed parts. It was a simple story of a red truck coming to rescue a school bus stuck in some wet snow. There was some suspense about whether the truck could do it or not. I was left wondering why a school bus would be out in questionable whether; why don't they have a snow day? Maybe that is just the New Englander in me.
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September 30, 2013Red Truck is about a truck who saves a school bus from slipping down a slope on a rainy day. This book could be read to children from kindergarten to third grade. Its illustrations are colorful and engaging. The book can also be relatable as kids are familiar with riding a school bus and they can imagine these events happening to them. I recommend the book as it has some rhyming as well action words that make it entertaining.
June 22, 2012
This book can be used for beginning readers the rhyme and repetition make it an easy read for young students before no time the students will be reading the book by themselves, this story inspires me to do an activity with my children that forces them to use their imagination, for the activity the students would come up with their own hero and write a story about them saving the day.
July 26, 2012
My three year old son really likes this book. The narrative is very simple and repetitive, but not in a way that makes me want to die. I like that the words RED TRUCK almost always appear in the same font and style throughout the book so that Gavin was able to start recognizing the words as we read. The illustrations are also very cute.
July 3, 2013
This book is ADORABLE and between the hero (Red Truck, of course), the illustrations, and the rhyming, boys and girls alike will make this a favorite. I am a Red Truck fan and hoping there are new adventures coming soon! (could I get some pajamas with the Red Truck "Zoom, Zoom" on them, please?) Besides old moms like me, I'd say ages 3-6 will especially like it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews