Trucky Roads
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Lulu Miller, illus. by Hui Skipp. S&S/Wiseman, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-66591-917-3
Though “some people look at the road and just see TRUCKS,” bearded enthusiast Trucky Roads sees “all KINDS of trucks” in this imaginative appreciation that muses on the vehicles’ many modes. Early pages list commonplace variations (dump trucks, garbage trucks), but things grow increasingly outlandish after Roads muses, “If you can dream it, it could be.” On the next spread, which introduces “Tow Trucks and Toe Trucks,” Roads is seen in the cab of a tow truck pulling a foot-shaped vehicle wearing a Band-Aid. Amid the goofy assemblage, things turn contemplative: asked whether a Bus Truck is “a bus made of a truck, or a truck made of a bus,” text indicates that “Truck is in the eye of the beholder.” And the onset of nighttime suggests even dreamier opportunities for vehicle expansiveness. Punny narration from Miller and friendly-faced digital renderings by Skipp conjure a high-energy truck rally with far-out vibes. Human characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (June)
A Big Day for Bike
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Emily Jenkins, illus. by G. Brian Karas. Little, Brown/Ottaviano, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-316-34017-5
With a smile on her front basket, Bike zooms through her first day on the job in this introduction to city bike-sharing systems. “Beep Beep Bicycles are for anyone to use, but they do cost a bit of money,” Jenkins explains; “You pay with an app on your phone.” Bike is nervous about the new beginning (“What if I get wobbly in traffic?”) but gets her bearings as her first passenger pedals toward Seattle’s Pike Place Market, soaring down a steep slope. A father and a baby on their way to the aquarium and more build Bike’s confidence. Only when a “fierce and wise” woman takes on a tremendous hill do challenges arise. As Bike finds her place and readers learn about a transit alternative, stylish, vintage-style cartooning by Karas lends texture to Seattle scenes. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Tips for safe biking conclude. Ages 4–8. (June)
Sleep, Little Dozer: A Bedtime Book of Construction Trucks
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Diana Murray, illus. by Cleonique Hilsaca. Random House, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-593-11904-4
A little digger struggles with bedtime in Mama’s absence until a construction-oriented song from Papa eases the way in this likable rhyming sleep aid for truck-lovers. After a big day “of revving and rumbling/ and rough-tumble play,” mud-splattered Dozer heads in, but bedtime arrives before Mama gets home: “He snuggles his teddy,/ counts jeep after jeep,/ but poor little Dozer,/ still can’t fall asleep.” Luckily, Papa readily jumps in with a lilting lullaby about “Rumbletruck Town,” where various vehicles “all settle their motors,/ and peacefully snooze.” When final stanzas elude Papa, Dozer takes part, finding the calm necessary to shut off his engine before Mama’s return finds him tucked in tight. Hilsaca’s round-edged digital artwork features light-toned colors and long shadows, supplying an appropriately soothing vibe for this relaxing read. Ages 3–7. (June)
Dream Submarine
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Charlotte Gunnufson, illus. by Cleonique Hilsaca. Candlewick, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-5362-2479-5
“Put your wishes in your pocket..../ Open the hatch and climb down the ladder.” A Dream Submarine allows readers to observe myriad sea creatures preparing for slumber in this soporific oceanic journey. As a child with light brown skin peers from a round window, the vessel travels from Zanzibar across the world’s oceans, encountering jellyfish, pufferfish, rays, turtles, and more. Lightly poetic lines highlight the remarkable bedtime habits of maritime fauna: “Shrimp tiptoe in to clean” yawning eels’ teeth, and “parrotfish snooze in slime sleeping bags.” As the submarine descends, the depths become reminiscent of the starry night sky, until the vehicle resurfaces and the child emerges, “right on time/ to make a wish for every fish/ and each creature in the sea.” Sweet, beachy-hued digital renderings by Hilsaca suggest a striated watery environment, while Gunnufson’s maritime meanderings point the way toward pelagic dreams. Back matter includes a map and species facts. Ages 3–7. (June)
The Tugboat and the Silver Moon
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Kersten Hamilton, illus. by Barry Gott. Viking, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-5935-2839-6
When strong winds cause a cargo ship to get stuck sideways in a canal, neither protagonist Tug nor hardworking dredgers and diggers can get her free. But the silver moon’s “dance with the earth and the sun raised the tides that help ships,” and her orbit eventually moves her into a position where she’s “the fullest and closest and strongest she could possibly be,” Hamilton writes. Now a supermoon, “she pulled the sea up in a mighty tide. A KING TIDE!” that propels the cargo ship out of the sand. Gott’s digitally rendered illustrations present a fully anthropomorphized toylike world: puffy-cheeked clouds create the wind, the poor cargo ship sheds anxious tears (“Ships float. That’s what we’re supposed to do”), and the moon is concerned but confident—the very picture of a benevolent force. An afterword explains the science behind the story. Ages 3–7. (July)
Mr. Pei’s Perfect Shapes
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Julie Leung, illus. by Yifan Wu. Quill Tree, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-0630-0630-0
Leung and Wu portray renowned modernist architect I.M. Pei (1917–2019) as perceptive, serious, and determined from an early age. Visiting stream-carved volcanic rocks in Suzhou, China, young Pei notes the “careful planning” behind the pieces. As an adult, he breaks with decorative architecture and embraces modernism—and he soon becomes one of its most recognizable champions, with commissions that include a new entrance to the Louvre. Pei’s relentless creativity, and the excitement of modernism itself, are conveyed via digital images that combine crisp lines with almost luminescent colors, evoking the movement’s signature geometric shapes and favored materials of glass and steel. Reportorial spreads occasionally take wonderful flights of fancy: one shows Pei leaning over Hong Kong as he contemplates creating a skyscraper that will withstand typhoons. A timeline and sources conclude. Ages 4–8. (May)
Charles & Ray: Designers at Play
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James Yang. Viking, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-5934-0482-9
Yang draws subjects Charles (1907–1978) and Ray Eames (1912–1988), titans of modern design, as intensely observant, doll-like figures, while also capturing the sense of problem-solving that drove their creativity. After noting an early success designing splints for soldiers out of bent plywood, the bulk of the book is devoted to the duo’s creating a chair “that looks like it was born to be a chair.” Though the “impossible puzzle” of a process, the couple eventually realizes that their work on the splint can be applied to making what would be called “the best chair of the twentieth century.” Young readers may not have the context to recognize how beautifully Yang tips his hat to mid-century-modern design, but they will come away with a sense of how exhilarating it can be to make something new—and with whetted appetites for discovering more. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. (May)
Erno˝Rubik and His Magic Cube
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Kerry Aradhya, illus. by Kara Kramer. Peachtree, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-6826-3664-0
Growing up in Budapest, Erno˝ Rubik (b. 1944) was a studious kid with a passion for puzzles, patterns, and playing with geometric shapes. “Tangrams, pentominoes, and pentacubes helped him imagine all the possibilities,” writes debut author Aradhya in a brisk, reportorial style. As an adult teacher who’d studied art and architecture, he developed three-dimensional models to use as classroom aids and wondered about building “a big cube out of smaller cubes that moved around each other and stayed connected.” Following the puzzle-like creation of what would become the Rubik’s Cube, Kramer uses sketch-like mixed-media images to break down the process, vividly capturing the serendipity, setbacks, and grit that eventually get Rubik to “twenty-six little cubes and one round mechanical core.” Even readers who find the invention more maddening than “magic” should be captivated by this tale of imagination, tenacity, and a global phenomenon that’s still going strong. More information and an author’s note conclude. Ages 4–8. (June)
Makers
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Young Vo. Levine Querido, $18.99 (56p) ISBN 978-1-64614-449-5
When two apprentice boat makers in a coastal town dream of “sailing across the sea together,” their partnership amplifies their individual strengths. “Van moved from project to project, always trying something new. Minh wanted things to be perfect.” After graduation, the two open individual boat-making businesses. Vo’s digitally finished pencil and ink illustrations contrast each character’s less-than-stellar experiences: Van’s boats are innovative but impractical (a pirate rowboat promptly sinks with its client on board), while Minh is stalled by perfectionism (intensive labors result in a single tiny block). The story resolves in classic buddy-film style, with the epiphany that collaboration doesn’t mean losing individuality and the realization of their long-ago dream. Powerful partnership prevails—even when humans do their best to ignore it—in this can-do picture book. Characters read as Southeast Asian. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)
Pedro’s Yo-Yos: How a Filipino Immigrant Came to America and Changed the World of Toys
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Rob Peñas, illus. by Carl Angel. Lee & Low, $20.95 (40p) ISBN 978-1-62014-574-6
This contextualizing origin story of one of the most successful toys of all time doubles as the biography of Filipino entrepreneur Pedro Flores (1896–1964). Born during Spain’s rule of the Philippines, Flores immigrated to the United States at 15 after the country was sold to the U.S. Arriving in Honolulu, he labored in pineapple fields, then took work on steamships, before heading to high school years later. Working as a bellhop in Santa Barbara, he “felt no better off than when he left the Philippines,” Peñas writes. To entertain the child of a family he stayed with, he carved a wooden yo-yo, a version of a childhood toy he’d played with back home, and taught the boy tricks. Word spread, and Flores soon opened one factory, then more, to manufacture yo-yos. Angel’s uneven digital illustrations capture experiences of colonialism and labor alongside the joy of a new toy in this well-researched picture book affirming ingenuity and perseverance. An author’s note and more concludes. Ages 4–7. (Apr.)
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