Your Truck (Your Things #1)

A red pickup truck prompts reader empowerment in Klassen’s standout board book series starter, which expands upon his Your Places series. Following an opening nameplate that encourages personalization (“This is a book about _____’s truck”), direct, steady-paced second-person narration reveals, “This is your truck./ It is yours to have.” Following lines suggest other possibilities for the object, including alternate hues (“It is a red truck./ There could be other colors, too, though”) and a range of items that the vehicle might haul around (“You can carry a chair and a table.// Or a dog./ Or a horse”). Proposing a dog “for now,” assuring prose then widens philosophically outward, meaningfully emphasizing the child’s autonomy: “I know it’s not going fast/ right now./ It is waiting for you./ But when you say to go fast,/ it will go fast.// When you are ready to go,/ your truck will go/ and go and go.” Stamp-like illustrations whose figures sport the creator’s signature side-eye center attention on the vehicle and canine, supporting the concept of readerly control before text gently pivots, winding down into a bedtime sequence that sees the vehicle’s and dog’s eyes becoming droopy and the artwork’s creamy background transitioning toward a deep sea green. Minimalism motors toward an expansive experience in this smart work that puts youngest readers in the driver’s seat. Ages 2–5. (Jan.)