These are my personal recommendations for anyone–parent, grandparent, aunts and uncles, friends and caregivers–with a truck-loving toddler in their life. It’s not easy to find books that toddlers will ask to read again and again, and won’t leave parents pulling their hair out (this one? Again?) Use this site for gift-giving and library trips. The parents will thank you!
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The Best Construction Truck Book for Toddlers
Little Excavator, Anna Dewdney
An instant favorite. The little excavator wants to help out on the construction site, but he’s too small for most of the big jobs–until the last one, when the other trucks are too big! Super fun to read, with great rhymes and fun truck sounds throughout. The pictures are lively with lots of different construction trucks, and my toddler loves pointing out every time the little excavator falls down.
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The Best Fire Truck Book for Toddlers
The Day I had a Fire Truck, Ashley Wall & Vaughan Duck
A sweet book for the fire-truck lover. The firemen take the day off and leave our narrator and his friends in charge of the truck for the day. They help out with all different sorts of problems, and learn about different equipment on the fire truck (our whole family now knows the big ladder is called an aerial!)
The Best Transportation Book for Toddlers
Cars and Trucks and Things that Go, Richard Scarry
This one is a classic for a reason–it’s a total delight. There are so many cars, ranging from the realistic (dump truck, RV camper) to the fantastical (pickle truck, egg car). It’ll grow with you: younger kids can point and name the vehicles, and older kids can read the actual story of a family of pigs setting off on vacation. Every page is packed with fun surprises for kids and adults.
Other Recommended Truck Books for Toddlers
Where do Diggers Sleep at Night, Brianna Caplan Sayres & Christian Slade
The illustrations are sweet and sometimes strange (check out the fire truck annoying his neighbors with bright lights after bedtime). There’s a great range of different trucks doing familiar bedtime activities, a fun combination for little ones. Later entries in the series can become repetitive and clumsy, but this one is a real charmer.
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Trash Truck, Max Keane
Probably the best garbage truck book ever written, Trash Truck tells of a lonely boy and a lonely truck finding each other and forming a friendship. Squeamish parents might not love the page where the boy runs outside to hug the garbage truck, but the sweetly quiet story and prose more than make up for it.
Little Blue Truck and Racer Red, Alice Schertle & Jill McElmurry
Truck book superstar Little Blue faces off against a flashy red race car. This installment is the best of the bunch because it not only includes Little Blue’s farm friends (and an always-welcome opportunity to make animal sounds) with a nice little lesson about slowing down to enjoy life.
FAQ
I believe any great book makes a great bedtime book! But for a truck book that includes tooth brushing and other bedtime routine elements, try Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night.
Yes! I’m a big fan of Trash Truck by Max Keane. It focuses more on the story of friendship than on details of how garbage trucks work.
Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go ages up with kids as they go through pre-school and beyond. It’s so busy with new things to discover at every stage.
I don’t have any recommendations that focus 100% on big rigs. That said, there are big rigs in Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, and most of my favorite Construction Truck books feature flatbeds.
Everything on this page! If you’re here for the books with the best stories, I recommend Little Excavator or Little Blue Truck and Racer Red.