Availability:
Library | Call Number | Format | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Avon Public Library | E VAN DUSEN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Braintree Thayer Public Library | VAN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Cohasset Paul Pratt Memorial Library | VAN DUSEN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Duxbury Free Library | J PI GO VAN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Hanover John Curtis Free Library | VAN DUSEN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Hingham Public Library | VAN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Hull Public Library | VAN DUSEN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Kingston Public Library | VAN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Marshfield Ventress Memorial Library | VAN DUSEN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Milton Public Library | PIC VAN DUSEN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Norwell Public Library | THINGS THAT GO VAN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Plymouth Public Library | VAN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Quincy Thomas Crane Library | THINGS THAT GO/VAN DUSEN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Rockland Memorial Library | VAN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Sandwich Public Library | J VAN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Scituate Town Library | VAN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Walpole Public Library | J PIC VAN DUSEN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Weymouth Tufts Library | J THEME BLUE VAN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Whitman Public Library | VAN | J BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
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.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
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)
Booklist Review
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. In shiny, lightly caricatured scenes, he opens with the truck wheeling off its barge and a detailed aerial view of the island. Then he peeks inside the stopped cars, each of which contains a child who needs to be somewhere: "Barry was already late for ballet. / He needed to practice his battement frappé." As the driver (and readers) look on in amazement, the island residents get together and decide to switch cars temporarily. Everyone gets where they're going, an outsize tow truck later rolls up to clear the road, and the author saves a final bright surprise for those wondering what was under that humongous tarp. A salutary case study in how trust and cooperation can turn a big problem into no problem.