Tractor-Trailer Trucker: A Powerful Truck Book - Hardcover

STEVEN BORNS, a photojournalist and magazine photographer, lives in New York City. His work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, People, Parade, the New York Times, and the Village Voice, among others. His first book for children was TRACTOR-TRAILER TRUCKER for which he traveled 6,703 miles through 27 states.

Grade 2-4-With close-up color photos and brief, technical directions, this book encourages readers to take the driver's seat. Every page has instructions on how to check under the hood, hook up the tractor and trailer, shift gears, load cargo, complete a "vehicle inspection report," and more. Large pictures of the inside and outside of a tractor-trailer truck dominate each page, but the minimal text that accompanies most of the pictures leaves many questions unanswered. Inquisitive readers will want to know what shock absorbers or ratchet binders do as they read about them. The mentions of "satellite paging" and of "citizens band (CB) radio" demand the kind of detailed explanation that is included in the section on sleeping in the truck. A glossary and a page of "Trucker Talk" don't make up for this lack of clarification. While the title promises that this is "A Powerful Truck Book," it does not convey the sense of size and strength of its subject that Seymour Simon's Book of Trucks (HarperCollins, 2000) does.
Edith Ching, St. Albans School, Mt. St. Alban, Washington, DC
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.