Lightship
Written and Illustrated by Brian Floca
Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers

If you don’t know what a lightship is, don’t worry, there’s a good reason for that. Lightships no longer sit off shore, warning sea faring vessels of dangers like a floating lighthouse. But thanks to Brian Floca lightships won’t be forgotten.

In his beautifully and poetically written picture book Lightship, Floca says of the ship, “She does not sail from port to port. She does not carry passengers or mail or packages. She holds to one sure spot as other ships sail by. She waits.”

Floca combines the loneliness of a single ship in the vast ocean with the pride these sailors had in performing a thankless task. His illustrations detail every part of the ship, down to the type of ovens in the kitchen to the plumbing in the “head.” Adding the perspective of the ship’s orange cat on almost every page – curled on a pillow during the snow and cold, watching the seagulls from the deck of the ship – gives this pretty straight-forward non-fiction title a little something extra.

Because Floca speaks so animatedly about lightships we don’t really know that these ships have been replaced with beacons and other technology until we read the author’s note at the end of the story. When we do find out, we really feel the loss, which adds to the historical significance of a picture book like Lightship.

Jon Scieszka’s Trucktown Smash! Crash!
Written by Jon Scieszka
Illustrated by Design Garage (David Shannon, Loren Long & David Gordon)
Published by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers


Jonn Scieszka’s Trucktown is exceptionally cute. The trucks all have personalities: Jack Truck and Dump Truck Dan love to smash and crash; Cement Mixer Melvin doesn’t want to do anything but mix his cement; Pumper Pat and Hook and Ladder Lucy follow the rules; and Big Rig is a bit of a bully. Even the typeface includes nuts and bolts, little gauges and other automotive paraphernalia.

In Smash! Crash! Jack Truck and Dump Truck Dan just want to smash and crash with their friends, but everyone is too busy to play with them. As they rush around Trucktown, they realize someone is following them, calling to them, but they just keep running away, sure that they’re in big trouble.
The ending, although fairly predictable, is still enjoyable. The story is simple, easy to follow and the pictures are as much fun as you can have inside the house. The illustrations are done in bright primary colors that practically reach out and jump off the page.

Caldecott winning illustrator and author Scieszka succeeds on a very instinctual level to speak to kids in a language they can certainly relate to: Smash! Crash!

Michele Corriel is an award-winning poet and freelance writer. She lives in Belgrade, Montana with her family.