Trucks: Books For Kids
There’s something about having a toddler that puts your truck radar on high alert. At least, that’s what happens to me. Probably because the distraction of a well-placed truck at a key moment is pure gold. “Look, there’s a truck!… and there’s a firetruck… and there’s a digger.” Meltdown averted. That’s what I sound like all day. If you also live with a mini truck fanatic, you’ll love these books chuck full of awesome trucks (along with a few other vehicles… purely for the sake for variety!
Top 10 Books About Trucks
I fell in love with this book when I first saw the cover, and especially for vehicle lovers, it only gets better from there. The illustrations are awesome—detailed, creative and engaging—as are the hand-lettered fonts for each vehicle name and following McToad on his journey to mow Tiny Island is far more entertaining than you might originally think.
McToad likes Thursdays. Why? Because on every other day of the week, McToad mows Big Island, but on Thursdays, McToad mows Tiny Island. To do so, he puts his mower on the back of a truck, which drives to a train, which goes to a helicopter, which flies to a boat, which uses a crane to put the lawn mower onto Tiny Island. There McToad mows and drinks some lemonade, and before you know it, it’s time to turn around and go back home. But first, the mower has to get lifted by a crane, to get put back on a boat, which is lifted by a helicopter, and . . . well . . . you get the idea.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Meet Blue. A muddy country road is no match for this little pick up—that is, until he gets stuck while pushing a dump truck out of the muck. Luckily, Blue has made a pack of farm animal friends along his route. And they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get their pal back on the road. With a text full of truck sounds and animal noises to read aloud, here is a rollicking homage to the power of friendship and the rewards of helping others.
There are some “classic” books that are classic for a reason, and for me this is one of them. It’s wildly popular because it’s truly that good. The clever, rhyming text clips along at a great pace and is simultaneously both instructive in its vocabulary and soothing as a going to bed book. The illustrations are phenomenon as well, and simultaneously detailed and beautifully stylized. Even if you don’t particularly love construction vehicles, I think you’d still truly enjoy this book.
The #1 New York Times bestseller As the sun sets behind the big construction site, all the hardworking trucks get ready to say goodnight. One by one, Crane Truck, Cement Mixer, Dump Truck, Bulldozer, and Excavator finish their work and lie down to rest—so they’ll be ready for another day of rough and tough construction play! With irresistible artwork by best-selling illustrator Tom Lichtenheld and sweet, rhyming text, this book will have truck lovers of all ages begging for more.
An unabridged board book version of the bestselling hardcover, perfect for small hands! The dream train pulls into the station, and one by one the train cars are loaded: polar bears pack the reefer car with ice cream, elephants fill the tanker cars with paints, tortoises stock the auto rack with race cars, and kangaroos stuff the hopper car with balls (while zebras referee). Dreamy illustrations and gentle rhyming text make this a beloved bedtime favorite for budding train enthusiasts everywhere.
I love this book! The catchy, rhyming verse keeps readers moving through the action with a sense of purpose, no hesitating as the firefighters rush into burning buildings to bring people out. In boldly drawn illustrations in primary colors with black and white the firefighters are shown moving through all their responsibilities from preparation, to fire fighting, to heading back to the station. There is a little dalmatian to be spotted on nearly every page. I love the way this book teaches respect for people in dangerous first-responder jobs.
The fire alarm sounds. The firefighter jumps in the truck and races to a daring rescue! Get ready for an adventure as Laura Godwin and Julian Hector celebrate one of our bravest everyday heroes in this board-book edition for little hands. Praise for This is the Firefighter (hardcover edition) “With its swift action, catchy verse, and appropriate palette (red, white, blue, and flame), this should find good use among preschool vehicle enthusiasts and new readers as well as in the ‘community helpers’ unit.” -The Horn Book
Super cute and original take on the classic Old MacDonald, jam packed with awesome trucks and other construction vehicles! Super fun to sing or just read out loud and adorable illustrations. I particularly enjoyed when the E-I-E-I-O transitioned throughout the book to different sounds and actions associated with each new truck (E-I-E-I-mow!) and the big reveal at the end of what Old MacDonald and all his helpers created.
Old MacDonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm he had a…TRUCK?! With a DIG DIG here and a SCOOP SCOOP there, this classic folk song just got revved up! Beloved machines—the excavator, dump truck, bulldozer, and more—will have the vehicle-obsessed of all ages reading and singing along.
This is the perfect alphabet book for little construction lovers! What I really liked about this book is that it has more of a story rather than just showing different construction vehicles.
Get ready for a ride through the alphabet at a busy construction site. There’s a big yellow Bulldozer, a tall shiny Crane, a rusty red Dump truck—and the construction crew is hard at work. But what are they building?
Such a fun construction-themed book, with so many neat vehicles! The fact that it’s a lift-the-flap book makes it so fun, because you get to guess what each vehicle does. I also think the illustrations in this book are very cute, and loved that there were vocabulary words for the parts on all of the machines.
There are countless machines that help out on a construction site. Everything from a bulldozer to a crane has a very special job. Do you know what it is? Lift the page to learn about what each machine does and discover what happens when they all work together!
Alphabet Trucks is one of the more unique alphabet books I’ve read, and I think it’s great. Who would have guessed you could find specialized trucks that start with each letter of the alphabet? Many alphabet books can be a bit random, so Alphabet Trucks offers creative text and pictures in a very narrow space: trucks!
Truck lovers find familiar and unusual trucks and learn where they work and what they do.
Truck . . .Truck . . . Truck . . . Goose will never get to have his picnic if he can’t cross the street!
Bright colors and hilarious antics makes Truck, Truck Goose perfect for toddlers at bedtime, story time, or anytime.
With a clever play on the beloved game of Duck, Duck, Goose, it tells the sweet, sometimes chaotic story of a goose who just wants to cross the road in front of his cottage. And everything is going fine . . . until he drops his piano!
With bold and bright illustrations from Zoe Waring and minimal text from Tammi Sauer, Truck, Truck, Goose is great fun.
Books About Trucks and Tractors
I fell in love with this book when I first saw the cover, and especially for vehicle lovers, it only gets better from there. The illustrations are awesome—detailed, creative and engaging—as are the hand-lettered fonts for each vehicle name and following McToad on his journey to mow Tiny Island is far more entertaining than you might originally think.
McToad likes Thursdays. Why? Because on every other day of the week, McToad mows Big Island, but on Thursdays, McToad mows Tiny Island. To do so, he puts his mower on the back of a truck, which drives to a train, which goes to a helicopter, which flies to a boat, which uses a crane to put the lawn mower onto Tiny Island. There McToad mows and drinks some lemonade, and before you know it, it’s time to turn around and go back home. But first, the mower has to get lifted by a crane, to get put back on a boat, which is lifted by a helicopter, and . . . well . . . you get the idea.
There are some “classic” books that are classic for a reason, and for me this is one of them. It’s wildly popular because it’s truly that good. The clever, rhyming text clips along at a great pace and is simultaneously both instructive in its vocabulary and soothing as a going to bed book. The illustrations are phenomenon as well, and simultaneously detailed and beautifully stylized. Even if you don’t particularly love construction vehicles, I think you’d still truly enjoy this book.
The #1 New York Times bestseller As the sun sets behind the big construction site, all the hardworking trucks get ready to say goodnight. One by one, Crane Truck, Cement Mixer, Dump Truck, Bulldozer, and Excavator finish their work and lie down to rest—so they’ll be ready for another day of rough and tough construction play! With irresistible artwork by best-selling illustrator Tom Lichtenheld and sweet, rhyming text, this book will have truck lovers of all ages begging for more.
This is the perfect alphabet book for little construction lovers! What I really liked about this book is that it has more of a story rather than just showing different construction vehicles.
Get ready for a ride through the alphabet at a busy construction site. There’s a big yellow Bulldozer, a tall shiny Crane, a rusty red Dump truck—and the construction crew is hard at work. But what are they building?
Roadwork - Big machines and their drivers work together to build a road.
Construction Site on Christmas Night - VROOM and ZOOM into the holidays with this new Christmas classic from the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site and Mighty, Mighty, Construction Site! The trucks are gearing up for Christmas by building a special gift! But, there’s a surprise waiting for each of them, too! Presents await for Excavator, Bulldozer, Crane, Dump Truck, and Cement Mixer as each finishes their part of this big, important job and rolls off to a sweet and sleepy goodnight. Playful rhyming text from the bestselling author of Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site and vibrant illustrations from the acclaimed artist AG Ford make this a perfect gift for construction fans everywhere.
Bulldozer's Shapes - Time for the construction site to SHAPE UP! Little construction fans will love learning their shapes by watching Bulldozer CIRCLE around, clearing away TRIANGLES of dirt until the perfect building spot has been SQUARED away. It’s all in a day’s work for the trucks of the bestselling Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site!
Car, Car, Truck, Jeep - This book is bursting with cars, buses, planes, trains, trucks, diggers—and many more Things That Go. And with a text set to the tune of Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, vehicle-obsessed little ones will never want to put this book down!
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Books About Trucks and Cars
The format of this book is akin to the very high-end Xavier Deneux books by Chronicle, with one part raised on one side of the page, which fits into a cut out on the other page, and is fun for little fingers to explore. I really enjoy that per the title it is a “clever colors book” that not only teaches colors, but also different types of transportation, and different words for groupings of vehicles (particularly since some are a little silly i.e. “a squeeze of buses”!) If your kid is into I-Spying in books, this is also great for pointing out different kinds of animals that ride in and drive these vehicles across the pages.
There are trucks and tractors, cars and buses rumbling through this lively and engaging colors book. Little learners will discover a rainbow of colors from red to blue and yellow and green in the brightly colored things that are splashed across the book pages. On the turn of every page, they’ll be excited to find raised vehicle shapes to touch, feel, and explore, that neatly tuck into the shaped spaces on the opposite page. Offering a tactile and visual experience that your child will want to repeat time and time again, A Traffic Jam of Trucks is just right for little hands!
The style of this book with the raised portions that fit beautifully into the page opposite is so fun for little hands to explore, and the breadth of vehicles from double-decker buses to trains to rocket ships is broad and fun! I really enjoy that because there are only a few vocabulary words without explanation provided per page, my toddler and I get to have an interactive experience reading this book and we can choose different parts to explore each time depending on our mood and the speed we’re going at!
Featuring spreads each with raised shaped objects that fit into scooped cutouts on their opposite page, these two new TouchThinkLearn books offer the youngest learners an irresistible opportunity to explore their universe in a hands-on, multisensory way. Seeing the image, tracing its shape, saying its name: these modes of perception combine in a dynamic way to stimulate understanding of essential concepts. Discover—and experience a train by tracing the raised railcar on one side and feeling the excavated shape of the track on the other! Clusters of related words on each spread offer parents and children a springboard for further conversations to encourage the language skills so crucial to later successful learning. In a format unlike any other, these groundbreaking books translate abstract thought into tangible knowledge.
Black car, green car, nice car, mean car. Near car, far car. Whoa! Bizarre car!
Ready to hit the road? Gear up for a nonstop parade of shapes, sizes, sounds, and even smells in a wild array of cars packed with big personalities, awesome features, and eccentric passengers. Driven by Peter Stein’s bouncing verse, Bob Staake’s high-powered artwork merges vibrant color and crisp, dynamic design with humor, warmth, and whimsy. This rousing excursion is sure to thrill all fans of things that go, as well as aficionados of the illustrator’s signature style.
Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks from A to Z - A miniature vehicle-filled alphabet book that starts with an ambulance and ends with a zippermobile is shaped like Lowly Worm’s applemobile. On board pages.
Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go - On their way to the beach for a picnic the Pig family encounters almost every kind of transportation vehicle imaginable—and imaginary.
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Books About Trucks and Rescue
I love this book! The catchy, rhyming verse keeps readers moving through the action with a sense of purpose, no hesitating as the firefighters rush into burning buildings to bring people out. In boldly drawn illustrations in primary colors with black and white the firefighters are shown moving through all their responsibilities from preparation, to fire fighting, to heading back to the station. There is a little dalmatian to be spotted on nearly every page. I love the way this book teaches respect for people in dangerous first-responder jobs.
The fire alarm sounds. The firefighter jumps in the truck and races to a daring rescue! Get ready for an adventure as Laura Godwin and Julian Hector celebrate one of our bravest everyday heroes in this board-book edition for little hands. Praise for This is the Firefighter (hardcover edition) “With its swift action, catchy verse, and appropriate palette (red, white, blue, and flame), this should find good use among preschool vehicle enthusiasts and new readers as well as in the ‘community helpers’ unit.” -The Horn Book
From propellers that whir to lights that flash, rescue vehicles attract everyone’s attention! To the Rescue! offers up a fun, foundational introduction to six helpful vehicles that are sure to fascinate every preschool learner. Simple, rhythmical text introduces each automobile or aircraft by its definitive action. Whimsical illustrations, meanwhile, pair emergency situations with friendly characters. Set within a durable board book format, this is a title all young readers will race to save from the bookshelf!
The perfect board book for toddlers who love trucks!
Can Red Truck make it up the hill? Red Truck can! Red Truck will! ZOOOOM!
This simply told read-aloud tells the story of Red Truck saving a school bus from a mud puddle. Toddlers fascinated by vehicles will love following the candy-colored illustrations, mimicking Red Truck’s sounds (“ZOOOOM!” “VROOOOOM!”), and hearing this favorite book read to them over and over again.
Emergency - Rescuing, fetching, lifting and towing! Lift the flap to see each vehicle busy at work. Perfect for guessing, prediction and memory skills - and simply joining in!
Trucks to the Rescue! - In this bright and action-packed board book, favorite trucks are here to save the day! Whether it’s a flat tire or a fire, trucks come to the rescue in this board book. Kids will love repeating the refrain “to the rescue!” with each different truck—fire truck, dump truck, tow truck, and more. William Low’s characteristically beautiful art brings these big machines to life.
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Books About Trucks and Construction
Super cute and original take on the classic Old MacDonald, jam packed with awesome trucks and other construction vehicles! Super fun to sing or just read out loud and adorable illustrations. I particularly enjoyed when the E-I-E-I-O transitioned throughout the book to different sounds and actions associated with each new truck (E-I-E-I-mow!) and the big reveal at the end of what Old MacDonald and all his helpers created.
Old MacDonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm he had a…TRUCK?! With a DIG DIG here and a SCOOP SCOOP there, this classic folk song just got revved up! Beloved machines—the excavator, dump truck, bulldozer, and more—will have the vehicle-obsessed of all ages reading and singing along.
Such a fun construction-themed book, with so many neat vehicles! The fact that it’s a lift-the-flap book makes it so fun, because you get to guess what each vehicle does. I also think the illustrations in this book are very cute, and loved that there were vocabulary words for the parts on all of the machines.
There are countless machines that help out on a construction site. Everything from a bulldozer to a crane has a very special job. Do you know what it is? Lift the page to learn about what each machine does and discover what happens when they all work together!
Fans of Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker, Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night? by Brianna Caplan Sayres, and Kate McMullan will be thrilled by this celebrated and endearing picture book about a young boy with a dream of owning the perfect pet.
When Nolan finds a stray backhoe in the street, he can’t wait to adopt it. But this backhoe is not very well behaved. As Nolan tries to train his new pet truck, he learns that maybe this backhoe already has a home…
This delightful story of a boy and his construction vehicle is brought to life with Craig Cameron’s vibrant illustrations, making this the perfect addition to every young reader’s library.
Demolition - What’s even more exciting to preschoolers than seeing big machines that build things? Watching the massive ones that tear them down! Crush the stone. Crush the stone. Chip and grind and munch. Make new concrete from the old. Whirr! Churr! Crunch! From the huge crane with a swinging ball (crack! ) to the toothy jaws that ram the walls (thwock! ), this rambunctious demolition, reverberating with sound words, is guaranteed to have small kids rapt. Bright spreads showcase the gargantuan machines in all their glory, and a pictorial glossary explains what each one can do.
Construction Alphabet - For fans of all things that go this noisy alphabet book explores construction equipment from A to Z. Find out about these construction machines and more, from a huge saw that cuts through roads to a massive vacuum that sucks up boulders. You’ll even learn a quick and easy recipe for concrete. Rock crushers, jackhammers, and wrecking balls will delight the youngest of readers learning their ABCs. Jerry Pallotta’s trademark humor punctuates the informative text. Vibrant oil paintings bring to life a busy construction site.
Three Cheers for Kid McGear! - She might be small, but she’s got it all-she’s Kid McGear, Skid Steer! Kid McGear is the newest truck to join the Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site crew, and she’s eager to help with even the roughest and toughest construction work. But when a steep cliff puts the other trucks in danger, can the new Kid on the site prove she’s big enough for even this big, big job? Playful rhyming text from the bestselling team behind Construction Site on Christmas Night makes this thrilling tale of teamwork and the BIG potential in the littlest readers a must-have read-aloud for construction fans both big and small.
Diggersaurs - Bigger than a digger…hungrier than a dinosaur…it’s a DIGGERSAUR! This rhyming mash-up of dinosaurs and trucks will delight dino fanatics and construction fans alike. A dozen dinotrucks crunch, scrape, chomp, and rumble through this book as they work on roads and construction sites. Little dinosaur fans will love the inventive names—SCOOPERSAURUS! DUMPERSAURUS!—and rip-roaring sound effects as they count each new Jurassic giant, up to twelve. Whether they are building or demolishing, these helpful Diggersaurs are the coolest things in town!
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How about children's books about construction?
Books About Trucks and Hard Work
Alphabet Trucks is one of the more unique alphabet books I’ve read, and I think it’s great. Who would have guessed you could find specialized trucks that start with each letter of the alphabet? Many alphabet books can be a bit random, so Alphabet Trucks offers creative text and pictures in a very narrow space: trucks!
Truck lovers find familiar and unusual trucks and learn where they work and what they do.
Digging, pushing, mixing and tipping! Lift the flap to see each vehicle busy at work.
Big machines and their drivers work together to build a library.
Farm - Collecting, lifting, transporting, and delivering! Lift the flap to see each vehicle busy at work. Perfect for guessing, prediction and memory skills - and simply joining in!
Dig, Dump, Roll - Diggers, dump trucks, rollers, and more—it takes a lot of big, noisy machines to build a school! Every young child who has ever gawked at a building site will gravitate to this exciting new entry in the kid pleasing Construction Crew series.
Dump Truck Duck - Dump Truck Duck honks and zooms and steers his dump truck all through the day, helping the other hardworking ducks build a new park. With adorable illustrations and playful rhyming text, Dump Truck Duck is certain to become a new read-aloud favorite!
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Books About Trucks and Friendship
Truck . . .Truck . . . Truck . . . Goose will never get to have his picnic if he can’t cross the street!
Bright colors and hilarious antics makes Truck, Truck Goose perfect for toddlers at bedtime, story time, or anytime.
With a clever play on the beloved game of Duck, Duck, Goose, it tells the sweet, sometimes chaotic story of a goose who just wants to cross the road in front of his cottage. And everything is going fine . . . until he drops his piano!
With bold and bright illustrations from Zoe Waring and minimal text from Tammi Sauer, Truck, Truck, Goose is great fun.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Little Blue Truck is spreading cheer by delivering Christmas trees to his animal friends. Can you help count each green tree from one to five and back again? Don’t forget to save one for Blue! Beep! Beep!
With the gentle rhythm and signature illustration style that made Little Blue Truck a household name, Blue’s new adventure is full of holiday warmth. Sturdy cardstock pages, a compact and child-friendly text, and flashing colored Christmas lights on the final page come together in a novelty gift book that’s sure to be the favorite treat of the season.
Grab your hard hat and get ready for a day of construction fun with a busy builder and his friend!
Grab your hard hat, tie your boots.
Pack your lunch. Ready? Scoot!
Sketch a dream. Post a chart.
Hatch the plan before you start.
Get ready for a day full of construction fun! Children can follow a busy dog builder as he sketches and plans his dream, clears rubble to make space, and gets to work digging, lifting, and sawing. He builds a house for himself and his bird friend, and satisfied after a hard day’s work, they takes in all they’ve done and look forward to the next day of building!
Small Walt and Mo the Tow - Small Walt befriends a tow truck when he comes across a car in need of help in this irresistible companion to Small Walt, which Kirkus Reviews called “charming and endearing” in a starred review. We’re Gus and Walt We plow and we salt We clear the snow so the Cars can go! A bitter blizzard. A snowbound town. When a car skids off the road, Small Walt and Gus might not have what it takes to save the day on their own. But who does? Mo the Tow to the rescue! When we need a tow, We call on Mo… We can depend On our new friend! Text filled with onomatopoeia and Walt’s affirming chants make this story about friendship and accepting help from others a real winner.
Want to Play Trucks? - Jack and Alex meet almost every morning in the sandbox at the playground. Jack likes trucks — big ones, the kind that can wreck things. Alex likes dolls — pink ones, with sparkles. And tutus. But Jack doesn’t want to play dolls, and Alex doesn’t want to play trucks. Readers will smile at the quintessential playground squabble on display in this amusing, relatable tale from Ann Stott and Bob Graham. Luckily for Jack and Alex, the day is saved with a little bit of compromise — what about dolls who drive trucks? — and the easy acceptance that characterizes the youngest of friendships. Not to mention a familiar jingle from nearby that reminds Jack and Alex of something else they both like: ice cream! Jack likes trucks. Alex likes dolls. What will they play together? Their new favorite game, of course!
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Books About Trucks and Building Things
Join Dump Truck on his colorfully busy day at the construction site! Little construction fans will love the colors that fill the world of the bestselling Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site, from the BLUE sky in the morning to the WHITE moon at night!
Join the ride as a team of adorable vehicles work together to build a new road in this fresh, cement-mixing spin on the classic nursery rhyme, “The House That Jack Built.” This is the traffic that’s moving too slow. Cars and buses have nowhere to go. What is the answer? I’m guessing you know. The trucks need to build a new road! Bulldozers, scrapers, graders, and more are hard at work making sure that every car, truck, and motorcycle can get where they’re going fast! With smooth writing by Susanna Leonard Hill and heavy-duty illustrations by Erica Sirotich, The Road That Trucks Built shows the importance and effectiveness of teamwork in a picture book that’s perfect for on the road readers.
Building Machines explores the powerful mechanics of construction vehicles and includes everything needed to build nine machines with working parts! The construction vehicles introduced are a forklift, bulldozer, front loader, giant digger, dump truck, road roller, crane, and tractor. Each spread describes the vehicle in detail, including its parts and function. The spreads also include instructions for constructing the machine described using the included die-cut pieces. Children can follow the steps to make each vehicle, then use the pieces to invent their own. It’s the perfect introduction to simple mechanics for budding engineers everywhere.
Demolition - Illustrations and rhyming text show the enormous and powerful machines that are used to demolish a building so that a playground can be built.
The Little Dump Truck - A happy little dump truck, driven by Hard Hat Pete, hauls stones, rocks, and debris from a construction site to a landfill.
Road Builders - Ever wonder how a road is built? Come along with Caldecott Medalist Simms Taback and find out! First you’ll meet the crew. Then you’ll see all the trucks up close—cement mixers, bulldozers, dump trucks, graders, pavers—and learn what each one does. And finally, you’ll watch a bustling new road come to life!
I'm a Truck Driver - Now in board book—a charming story about a little boy and girl adventuring from one driver’s seat to the next featuring 12 exciting trucks! There are many different kinds of trucks to drive. You can dig up dirt with a power shovel, lift steel beams with a giant crane, flatten tar with a steamroller, and push away snow with a snowplow. Preschoolers will love watching the little boy and girl in the story as they sit in the driver’s seat of twelve big trucks that rumble and tumble and go clinka-vroom vroom! A Christy Ottaviano Book
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- Top 10 Trucks Books
- + tractors (7)
- + cars (5)
- + rescue (5)
- + construction (7)
- + hard work (7)
- + friendship (5)
- + building things (7)
Did you enjoy our trucks book recommendations? Did we miss one of your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!