Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “Tugboat Bill and the River Rescue” as Want to Read:
Tugboat Bill and the River Rescue
by
Fans of Little Tug and Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo will love this lyrical, heartwarming story by Calista Brill, brought to life by Tad Carpenter’s bright and lively illustrations. Perfect for readers who can’t get enough of things that GO!
Bill is a tugboat. Mabel is a barge. Together they go up and down the choppy river.
The other ships are big and vain. They tease Bill and Mab ...more
Bill is a tugboat. Mabel is a barge. Together they go up and down the choppy river.
The other ships are big and vain. They tease Bill and Mab ...more
Hardcover, 40 pages
Published
February 21st 2017
by HarperCollins
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
Tugboat Bill and the River Rescue,
please sign up.
Be the first to ask a question about Tugboat Bill and the River Rescue
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30
Start your review of Tugboat Bill and the River Rescue
May 06, 2019
Abigail
rated it
liked it
Recommends it for:
Young Children Who Enjoy Stories About Anthropomorphized Vehicles
Tugboat Bill and Mabel the Barge are companions and friends, plying their trade on the mighty Hudson River, and doing their best to ignore the snide comments of the larger and more stylish ships, who call Mabel names. When a little kitten falls into the water, those larger ships refuse to help so scruffy a creature, but Mabel comes to the rescue, winning praise for her heroism. Then the larger ships feel rather envious...
This second picture-book from Calista Brill - the first was Little Wing ...more
This second picture-book from Calista Brill - the first was Little Wing ...more
Every picture book should rhyme with its author! This a delight, with a fun Golden Book feel to the art, and a must in the bedtime reading diet of any five year old who loves tugboats—meaning pretty much every five year old.
Bill is a tug boat. Mabel is a barge. Together they chug up and down the Hudson River. Newer, larger ships bully Mabel with hurtful words. Until Mabel saves a drowning kitten. The tug boat helped too. Mabel becomes a hero and the story is written up in the newspaper. The ships are sorry they didn't help the kitten.
The illustrations have a retro, Golden Book feel to them. They are vivid and stand out on the pages. The text is rhythmic with rhyming words, until it gets into the heart of the story ...more
The illustrations have a retro, Golden Book feel to them. They are vivid and stand out on the pages. The text is rhythmic with rhyming words, until it gets into the heart of the story ...more
Love the retro illustrations!
The story could be pared down to perfection with a stronger editorial hand, but is just a little wordy for the predictable, triumphant story of defeating bullies with hand and heart. Kids may disagree and find the "extra" text just enough to draw out the action. Test it on a 5 year old. They know best!
...more
The story could be pared down to perfection with a stronger editorial hand, but is just a little wordy for the predictable, triumphant story of defeating bullies with hand and heart. Kids may disagree and find the "extra" text just enough to draw out the action. Test it on a 5 year old. They know best!
...more
TUGBOAT BILL teaches about the topic of bullying and how you can be great no matter what others say.
Tugboat Bill works with his friend Mable who is an old barge. She's rusty, old, and leaks, but that doesn't mean she's useless. Instead, she's as hard of a worker as Bill, but the other ships don't see it that way. They call Mable names and she pretends to look the other way, but it still affects her and hurts her feelings under the surface. They think they're better because they're newer.
When a c ...more
Tugboat Bill works with his friend Mable who is an old barge. She's rusty, old, and leaks, but that doesn't mean she's useless. Instead, she's as hard of a worker as Bill, but the other ships don't see it that way. They call Mable names and she pretends to look the other way, but it still affects her and hurts her feelings under the surface. They think they're better because they're newer.
When a c ...more
Lovely classic Golden Book feel for a perennial bedtime read!
Loved it! Unique book!!
Cheerful retro illustrations but not much of a story.
Brill, Calista Tugboat Bill and the River Rescue, illustrated by Tad Carpenter. PICTURE BOOK. HarperCollins, 2017. $17.99. Content: G.
Tugboat Bill and his friend Marge the Barge work on the Hudson River. Many of the faster, sleeker, newer boats make fun of them, but Bill and Marge refuse to let the taunting turn them mean. Then one day they have a chance to do a good deed, and the results make the previously-condescending boats jealous. Apparently, being nice pays off.
The colorful illustrations ...more
Tugboat Bill and his friend Marge the Barge work on the Hudson River. Many of the faster, sleeker, newer boats make fun of them, but Bill and Marge refuse to let the taunting turn them mean. Then one day they have a chance to do a good deed, and the results make the previously-condescending boats jealous. Apparently, being nice pays off.
The colorful illustrations ...more
Bill the tugboat and Mabel the barge are friends on the Hudson River. The fancier and bigger ships actually insult Mabel, calling her "silly stupid and (gasp!) boring." Even though Mabel and Bill pretend not to hear it, they do. But when Mabel saves a kitten who falls into the river and becomes a hero featured in the newspaper, suddenly those vain ships are wishing they were more like that lowly barge.
This story offers a lesson on appreciating others and about how helping others is a good thing ...more
This story offers a lesson on appreciating others and about how helping others is a good thing ...more
Tugboat Bill and Mabel the Barge are friends who work together to haul cargo on the river. They find themselves belittled by the big boats and ships that cruise up and down the Hudson River, until one day the pair make headlines in the news by rescuing a small cat who falls into the river.
The story is simple and sweet, though a bit harshly told. The big ships are made into bullies, feeling sorry for themselves by the end of the tale. There is no remorse or apologies for their behavior, only a pi ...more
The story is simple and sweet, though a bit harshly told. The big ships are made into bullies, feeling sorry for themselves by the end of the tale. There is no remorse or apologies for their behavior, only a pi ...more
Like the Hudson River (my own beloved river), the prose here is "sometimes smooth, and sometimes choppy." There seem to be some attempts at rhyming sets of adjectives (and some are more successful than others), in other places there's no attempt at a rhyme. That could make this hard to read. However, the plot, akin to classics like Little Toot, is charming (extra points for the kitten), and the anthropomorphized boats will entrance. I'd give this a 3.5 to 3.75 if I could, but will bump it up to
...more
I was nervous, because my friend wrote this and I can be pretty picky about picture books, and I want to like the things but friends do. But I really genuinely liked it! The story itself is nothing new but the presentation is unusual--a little jazzy, a little free-versey, maybe. There's an offbeat rhythm to the words that is refreshing given the sing-songyness of many picture books. It rhymes, sort of, but it's not a rhyming book nor is it trying to be. There are also a lot of good vocabulary wo
...more
The writing here is so well done: unforced, poetic, and original. Great book for stretching vocabulary and encouraging wordplay - humming/sleepy/sour/dented/heapy. Comic timing is in supply, the sleeping capitan in particular got laughs from my preschool audience, who stayed focused through the story. I won't be annoyed if I have to read this twenty times a week.
...more
Tugboat Bill and his friend rescue a kitten from the river after the big ships are content to let it drown. The text is simple and fun, plus there's a great message! Bright, primary colors drew Berry in and kept her attention.
...more
You don't often see too many books about Tugboats, and this one is a good addition to any collection. Bullying is a huge topic, and the writing style in it would make this a great read-aloud for a toddler storytime about transportation.
...more
Cute for kids who like boats.
A festival of adjectives and primary colors! Now I will get in my black, shiny, comfy, ordinary-looking rental car and go buy lunch.
This book is not overly-complicated. The simple story is of a tugboat and a barge who are friends. They are looked down upon by other, fancier boats. The illustrations are bold and simple.
My kids loved this. great colors and easy story, but cute.
Nathan likes boats, so this one was cute. His favorite part was where the tugboat and barge helped the kitty cat.
I like this book because once they saved the cat. Tugboat Bill helped but Mabel did the real rescuing.
I read this book to my son and he liked it. Colorful, fun and with teachable moments, I loved this book. I can see this becoming one of the books that I re-read to him a lot.
story was lacking
Tugboat Bill and his friend rescue a kitten.
Boats
Boats
Bright primary colored illustrations. Cute story about a Tugboat and his friends who are kind when the bigger boats are not.
I liked the illustrations but the story was too long and forgettable.
3.75 stars A well written story about a barge...and the moral...you don't have to be pretty, fast, or awake (tee hee) to do good in the world!
...more
Loved the retro illustrations and saving a kitten always gets a star.
Bright, bold primary colors, clean lines and obvious anthropomorphized faces make this picturebook appealing--especially to those vehicle-loving toddlers. The narrative is full of opposites and rhymes which gives it a good rhythm, but the story itself is heavy-handed and underdeveloped.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers also enjoyed
Related Articles
Tami Charles is a former teacher and the author of picture books, middle grade and young adult novels, and nonfiction. As a teacher, she made...
44 likes · 65 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
