Big Truck Little Island

by Chris Van Dusen, Chris Van Dusen (Illustrator)

Overview

That big truck is stuck! How will the island residents get where they’re going? A tale of community and ingenuity from the celebrated Chris Van Dusen, inspired by a true story.

When a big truck and its big load get stuck on a narrow road, traffic on the little island comes to a halt. Some cars need to go south and some have to travel north. How will Meg get to her swim meet? What about Barry’s ballet class? Luckily, the kids come up with an ingenious solution: why not just swap cars? Inspired by an incident that happened on Vinalhaven, Maine, Chris Van Dusen tells a fun tale of resourcefulness and community through clever, rhyming wordplay and whimsical illustrations, sprinkled with plenty of cars and trucks for transportation-loving readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536203936
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	05/03/2022
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	115,025
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 11.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Chris Van Dusen is the author-illustrator of Hattie & Hudson, Randy Riley's Really Big Hit, King Hugo's Huge Ego, The Circus Ship. He is also the illustrator of the the Mercy Watson books, and many other titles. He lives in Maine.

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/21/2022

In his signature art style, Van Dusen (the Mercy Watson series) opens with an expansive bird’s-eye spread of a tugboat headed across a northerly bay on “one bright summer day.” Readers can almost taste the salt air as the tug hauls a barge, on which sits a semi with an “extra large” covered load, to the titular island. Once on land, the driver “came to a switchback, terribly tight,/ then felt the whole payload shift off to his right,” blocking the island’s single road and necessitating a rescue. But instead of focusing on extracting the jackknifed truck, Van Dusen turns his attention to the island’s residents: four children of various skin tones stuck in vehicles on either side of the semi. Blocked from getting to their respective outings, and noting that the adults seem more frustrated than action-oriented, the kids briskly confer, and then “quickly decided, as friends, what to do”: “Listen,” one says, “let’s all exchange cars./ We’ll borrow yours, and then you borrow ours.” The crisply rhyming, economic text underscores both the protagonists’ cut-to-the-chase ingenuity and the story’s deftly delivered core message: when community and trust run deep, life’s inevitable obstacles are a lot easier to work around. An author’s note details the story’s origins on Vinalhaven, Maine. Ages 3–7. (May)

Publishers Weekly

The crisply rhyming, economic text underscores both the protagonists’ cut-to-the-chase ingenuity and the story’s deftly delivered core message: when community and trust run deep, life’s inevitable obstacles are a lot easier to work around.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Van Dusen is in full command of his rhyming text, using rhythm and sound to set the pace and convey mood. His expressive characters add humor to the situation.
—The Horn Book (starred review)

An excellent lesson in kindness and problem-solving. . . Van Dusen’s sun-drenched images of the truck making its way across the reach are stunning, as are the overhead views of the town, with its postcard-perfect farmhouses and tree-lined cliffs. It makes Maine a place readers will want to visit, just not in a truck that might struggle on narrow curves. . . A perfect little slice of life with a unique take on kindness and compromise.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

The story, inspired by an actual mishap on Maine’s Vinalhaven island, rollicks along in rhymed verse that makes the most of the transportation theme. . . Gouache paintings maintain a lighthearted perspective on the islanders’ troubles, while accurately conveying the challenge of coaxing a massive rig along slippery switchbacks. This study in quick-thinking and neighborliness is bound to earn demands to read it again.
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Spinning a tale based on a real incident that occurred on the island town of Vinalhaven in Maine, Van Dusen portrays what happens when a really big flatbed truck carrying a mysterious, covered load across a small island gets stuck on a tight curve and blocks traffic in both directions. . . . A salutary case study in how trust and cooperation can turn a big problem into no problem.
—Booklist

Based on true events, the author creates a picture of a small town that supports and trusts one another. . . A combination of bird's-eye and close-up illustrations depict the expressions of the people and provide glimpses of the local island life. The rhyming and rhythmic text will engage readers and make them excited to see what happens next.
—School Library Connection

In Chris Van Dusen’s distinctive illustrations, everything has a smooth, sugar-glazed look, as if his pictures were made of frosted cookies that you could eat. . . . The story Mr. Van Dusen shows and tells in ‘Big Truck, Little Island’ is perhaps his sweetest yet. . . . The solution has a charming element of cut-the-Gordian-knot surprise in this beautifully well-balanced tale for readers ages 4-8.
—The Wall Street Journal

The humorous singsong text (‘the truck trundled off. It bucked up the bridge with a wheeze and a cough’) and the droll illustrations (including a bird's-eye view of the island) make this a winner for the target age group.
—The Buffalo News

From the Publisher

★ 2022-04-27
Island residents in Maine figure out a novel, neighborly solution to a traffic jam caused by a large stuck vehicle.

A big truck and trailer are carried across the water on a barge to a small Maine island. There, on its way up a curving, narrow road, the truck loses its grip on the road, its wheels stuck in mud. This creates a problem: Cars on each side can’t get through to their destinations. Kids carried in those cars are missing swim meets, ballet practice, and school projects, among other appointments. The solution is simple if the residents, who are racially diverse, trust one another: Swapping cars allows the families on either side to get to their destinations. Eventually, the truck is rescued, delivering its precious cargo to the town: all the parts needed to make a carnival. Van Dusen reveals in an author’s note that the book is based on a real story he heard about that took place in the island town of Vinalhaven. Told in verse, the narrative, which seems at first to simply be about a truck’s glacial journey to its destination, turns out to be an excellent lesson in kindness and problem-solving. The alternative wouldn’t have been so bad; Van Dusen’s sun-drenched images of the truck making its way across the reach are stunning, as are the overhead views of the town, with its postcard-perfect farmhouses and tree-lined cliffs. It makes Maine a place readers will want to visit, just not in a truck that might struggle on narrow curves. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A perfect little slice of life with a unique take on kindness and compromise. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews