Digger, Dozer, Dumper

First, the book is fantastic. Slonim's engaging illustrations combine perfectly with Vestergaard's whimsical rhymes to create an excellent entertaining AND educational experience for kids. And grownups enjoy reading it to the kids because it's just adorable!! Second, the board book is not an abridged version - it's the full book, but in a very sturdy board book format. I LOVE this. And the price can't be beat :-) . This would make a great gift for SO many occasions - baby showers, birthdays, Christmas, stocking gift, in the Easter basket ... or just because (which is why I purchased it for a niece and nephews ;-) ).

I bought this book as a present for my son (20 months) based on all the rave reviews and his intense big-rig obsession. After receiving it and giving it an initial flip-through, however, I was worried that it wasn't, in fact, all that, and I nearly returned it. It just didn't grab me on my first reading, and I wasn't sure my son would be interested in the specific details of all these different trucks. Boy was I wrong. This has become one of our absolute favorite books. My son recites parts of it from memory at random times, and requests it constantly at story time, naming the specific poems he likes best (dump truck, steam roller, ambulance). I love that we can sit and read the entire book, or just jump around and read one or two poems, depending on what mood we're in. The poems are very, very solid -- the rhythm is good (no clunker lines that force you to adjust your reading speed to make work), the content is interesting, and the lengths are perfect. They certainly stand up to high-frequency repetition. And the pictures are wonderful, with funny details like a dog behind the wheel of a truck, which my son loves to point out. My 3-year-old daughter also loves to read this with us (her favorite is the cherry picker, which is shown rescuing a cat from a tree). I love that the machines are a mix of male and female, and there are both girls and boys drawn in the pictures. So, to gently refute one review below -- sure, this is a boys' book, but it's just as much a girls' book, too.

If I could speak to every person who has a truck/digger lover at home I would tell them to buy this book. All of us, parents, siblings, grand parents, and care providers are reading to our little people constantly. We want for them to feel the world around them in a myriad of ways and reading is usually a home run. This book holds a perspective that is imperative to all our minds, but esecially when we are young and unable to be self reflective. The gender of the trucks is balanced, the book is very well written ( poetry!), the illustrations are gentle and kind, the message is clear: you can find positivity everywhere you look. Vestergaard brings the diggers to life without tension. She makes their world exciting and explains their jobs comprehensively. My 2 year old son loves this book. He even has me making up songs to the poems because they are fun, intelligent, and they rhyme. Buy this book, it is a good environment to step into for you and your child.

My son is 2.5 so he is obsessed with any kind of construction vehicle, truck, etc. Naturally, he loves this book, but I admit I do like it as well. The writing is very clever and the rhymes are cute. I can easily make them into song lyrics. The book is longer so it makes for a good storytime choice. But each page can be read as a separate story too, which helps if you don't have time to commit to the whole thing. I appreciate that the characters are both male and female and of different races. And some of the machines are a "her" too. My son loves to find the doggy on each page (but I hope he subconsciously notes the equal gender and racial representation..?). Bonus: I never thought I would know what a skid steer loader is. But look at Mom now! :)

As a mom who tries not to subscribe too much to traditional gender roles, I was not expecting to have a little boy who loves trucks so much. And yet here I am with a newly verbal two year old who can't get enough of trucks, especially construction vehicles! I ordered this book not expecting much, but it's really very wonderful. It has cute rhymes and does a good job explaining what each truck does in an easy way. It also doesn't make me want to gauge my eyes out like so many other rhyming books. It's actually kind of fun for me to read to my toddler! Most importantly, it's diverse! The trucks are both male and female (because it's not a children's book if every single thing isn't anthropomorphised) and the people driving the trucks in the illustrations are diverse races and genders. If I were being really picky, I'd prefer to have more of the trucks be "female" and maybe see more "differently abled" truck drivers (though not sure how realistic that even is; how likely is a person in a wheelchair to be operating a construction vehicle?) As far as childrens books go, you can't get much better than this with regard to diversity.

When our little one was a year and a half old we decided that we should work on getting some reading material for him. We came across Digger Dozer Dumper and thought it would be a fun book. Every page in this book is nicely illustrated and has a fun poem that describes the functionality of the vehicle that it references. A couple of months after owning this book he went and got it, sat down with it and, before we knew it, he chewed a piece of the corner off of it. In the year and a half that we've had Digger Dozer Dumper it is by far the most read book. Now that he's three, he is even starting to join in on the reading aspect. If you're looking for a book that is not only fun to read, but can teach your child about what the different vehicles are able to do, then this is a must have for your home library. If you found this review "Helpful", please click the button below.

This book is really great. My son began looking at it around 18-months and loves it still at nearly 2-yrs old. He can recognize all the machinery and always keeps a keen eye out for the dog who is wearing a hard hat, and always finds himself hidden in peculiar situations. The descriptions all have a clever rhyme and cadence, and I often overhearing my son playing with his toys and attempting to recite the phrases by memory. HOWEVER some of the illustrations are just awful and not "anatomically correct," which makes this short of a FIVE STAR review. Just look at the cement truck for example.... the cab of the cement truck is correctly positioned at the front of the vehicle, but the cement drum is facing the wrong way. Are you supposed to pour the cement over the Driver?! And look at the hydraulic arm on the garbage truck... there's no practical reason for it to be drawn this way. These illustrations defy logic and the laws of physics, and I fear they will confuse or mislead any budding engineer. Reading this book too much will make your kid more likely to be a truck driver rather than a truck designer or CEO of a truck manufacturer.

Good for the little one that loves these vehicles!

Good book

Lovely book but American English.

My 3 year old is fond of vehicles and this became his fast favorite. It had vehicles like cherry picker and tow truck; something that I rarely find in other books. All trucks are described using peoms. Since we are Indians my son's mother tongue is not English. So even if I read it to him he doesn't enjoy it much. On the other hand, my 5 year old daughter who is not into vehicles also surprisingly enjoys this book. Especially the peoms on the last page.

My son is only 20 months old and has more truck knowledge then most adults thanks to this book!

ブリッピーが好きで、重機好きになった息子(2歳)が激ハマり！ 私は英語が出来ないので、調べながらの音読ですが、息子はそれでも良さそうなので、英語の音読が出来る私、と、好きな言語で好きな重機の話が聞ける息子でお互いにwin-winの関係になっています。