Digger and Tom!

PreS—Onomatopoeia and large, colorful illustrations of simple rounded shapes outlined with thick black lines will be enjoyed by children fascinated with construction equipment. Finished with work for the day, Digger, a small backhoe, cannot rest for the night until he makes the site safe by digging up one last, lone rock. While diligently attempting to unearth the stubborn stone-"perspiration" actually flies off him-larger machines declare they are more experienced and will tackle the job. After they fail, Digger, with encouragement from his friend, dump-truck Tom, tries again and ultimately saves the day by removing the soil around the stone, which is then lifted by the truck crane and carried away by Tom, while the bulldozer, steamroller, and demolition vehicle smooth the ground. Each machine has a mouth and two round eyes that reveal a variety of emotions. This "all's well that ends well" tale is similar in scope to Stephen Savage's Little Tug (Roaring Brook, 2012), but the focus is on teamwork here rather than just the smallest one making the biggest impact. Use with Sally Sutton's Demolition (Candlewick, 2012) for a construction storytime theme.—Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI