Mighty Truck

by Chris Barton, Troy Cummings (Illustrator)

Overview

Meet Clarence, a rickety old truck who goes from average to awesome when an unexpected trip through a mysterious truck wash transforms him.

With pumped-up tires, a revved-up engine, and a squeaky-clean exterior, Clarence becomes a town hero! In his first adventure, Clarence—aka "Mighty Truck"—pulls a friend from the mud, rescues a kitten, and stops a loose beam from destroying Axleburg.

Fans of Disney's Cars and Thomas the Tank Engine will love this action-packed picture book, illustrated by Troy Cummings and written by bestselling author Chris Barton (of Shark vs. Train)!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062344786
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/29/2016
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Chris Barton really loves writing books such as the bestseller Shark vs. Train, the Robert F. Sibert Honor Book The Day-Glo Brothers, the Mighty Truck series, and Attack! Boss! Cheat Code! A Gamer's Alphabet. Chris and his family live in Austin, Texas.

Troy Cummings has written and illustrated a number of books, including the Mighty Truck series, Giddy-Up, Daddy!, and the Notebook of Doom series. He lives in Greencastle, Indiana, with his nice family and mean cat.

Editorial Reviews

03/01/2016
PreS-Gr 2—Clarence is an ordinary, dusty four-wheeler, until a truck wash during a lightning storm transforms him into an extraordinary, "really, wheely powerful" superhero. No one recognizes this glistening, "shiny-clean stranger" who comes to the aid of those in need. With a turbo-charged push, he gets his friend Bruno out of a mud jam. He revs his engine and rescues a kitten stuck in a tree, and he even scales tall buildings with his inflated tires and saves the town from impending doom by welding a falling steel girder with his headlight laser beams. Back down on the ground, covered in dirt again, Clarence doesn't reveal his alter ego, content in knowing that transformation is "only a wash away." Cummings's bright cartoons are full of energy and excitement, and the monster vehicle's emotions are written all over his windshield. VERDICT Here's hoping there are more adventures to come for this Mighty Truck champion.—Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada

School Library Journal

2016-01-09
An adventure-loving truck discovers an alter ego when his boss demands a trip through the car wash. Clarence is an old-fashioned-looking pickup truck with wooden rails, but his most obvious characteristic is that he's filthy. Even an imminent thunderstorm won't clean him off, but a lightning strike may have something to do with his transformation—when he drives away, he is gleaming, feeling "really wheely powerful," and unrecognizable to his co-workers. Indeed, the shiny red monster truck with "MT" emblazoned on the side and huge tires is a far cry from the dirty pickup of the beginning. But truck lovers won't care, as underdog Clarence proceeds to rescue truck-friend Bruno from the mud, a cat from a tree, and a line of traffic from a beam teetering on a high-rise under construction, each daring superhero feat cementing his new identity as Mighty Truck. By the end, he's dirty again, but he won't share his secret—who wants to miss all the fun that comes with getting dirty when getting clean is "only a wash away"? Cummings' Photoshop illustrations emphasize textures: dirt in all its forms—the dirt covering the trucks, the dirt in the tire treads, mud—the sheen of windows and chrome, the roughness of asphalt. Readers may remark on the unfairness of Clarence's having to wash when Bruno is just as dirty, though. Truck enthusiasts will wheely groove on this story of a truck Superman. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews