My Big Rig (Board Buddies) Review

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(More customer reviews)Graton's Jonathan London uses his Northern California background as the setting for this beautifully illustrated big rig journey. We encounter our young protagonist in his bedroom, playing with his truck set and asking us, "Wouldn't it be fun to drive a truck across the country?" Fro ithis first spread, illustrator Viviana Garofoli's impressive talent is evident from this first spread: Her use of bright colors, geometric shapes, open space, and shadows give the book a wide-open, inviting appeal, and she's obviously up with curret toys (a soccer ball, realistic looking playset, skates) and little boy room decor.
London begins the trip immediately, as the boy climbs into a yellow 5-axle truck, making his way from the tilted cityscape of San Francisco north over the GOlen Gate Bridge. Garofoli's slanting towers, soaring "INternational Orange" bridge towers, and simplified sea andlandscape in blue, mayve, and purple is amazing; while stripping the scene down to its essentials, she also adds her own vision to the familiar (albeit beautiful) setting. The boy drives that truck over rolling valleys, and up steep mountains, through the desert, and across the plains. There are colorful details everywhere: Cactii and other flora in bloom, a bird perched on an a deer's antlers, distant curvy roads with guard rails--it's quite an adventure!
London's has fun with the whole trucker image, playing a macho sensibility against the boy's tender age. The boy--drawn oversized as if he had put on several years and pounds-- visits a diner, dipping his chocolate doughnut into an unspecified dark brown beverage. (You can tell your audience its either hot chocolate or coffee.) WIth his mouth talking sideways into his CB radio, he contacts another king of the road:
"What's your handle?"
"Fast Freddie," he answers.
"Keep on truckin', good buddy."
"Roger that, I say. Over and out!"
Little Mr. Man successfully delivers his crates and watches them being unloaded on "giant sea-going freighters." Big Mr. Boy, however, is called to dinner and then gets into bed, where he expects his daydream will be matched with a nighttime one. London and Garofoli show how a great kids' book should sound and look, this is one of my favorites of the year. I knew from "Mustang Canyon," the "Froggy" series, and other works that I could expect great writing from London, but I equally impressed by the welcoming, exciting images of Ms. Garofoli.

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