By Sally Sutton and Brian Lovelock
I initially came across this book because it’s frequently recommended on Reddit. We’ve had it from the library for a while, so I thought I’d write up a quick review!
➡️ Read more of the most recommended books on Reddit.
What the Book is About
Roadwork is a rhyming book about crews building a road. The trucks are realistic (not anthropomorphic) and worked by human crews. On each page, they do another task to get the road ready. It includes jobs that you don’t see very often in truck books, like putting up signs, painting the lines, and even taking a break for lunch. Each rhyme follows the same format, ending with onomatopoetic work sounds like “Crunch,” “Bang,” and “Whump!”
My Review of Roadwork
Sorry Reddit, but this one just doesn’t do it for me!
I love a brilliant onomatopoeia, but these ones fall pretty flat for me. For some reason they’re just not that fun to read out loud! The sounds don’t really hang together in a “musical” way, and they also don’t always really match the work being done. Why would the grader and roller make a “crack” sound?
It’s worth mentioning it also doesn’t give the names of the trucks as they do their work. (It does have some names and descriptions on the very last page.) From my experience, toddlers are very interested in learning all the names. If we didn’t already know all of them, I would be stumped as a parent with the inevitable “What is that truck, mama?” on every page. So it’s not a great “early” truck book for toddlers.
On the positive side, I like that it turns our attention to all of the steps and different workers involved in building a road. It puts them in order, rather than just being a random list of trucks. And it’s not often that you see a landscaping crew putting in greenery in a children’s book, instead of just the big trucks and their operators. This could be nice for a preschooler who is more interested in the people and the work than just the big trucks.
➡️ Check out my favorite Construction Truck books
The Illustrations
The illustrations are pretty cute! They’re straightforward but the colors are nice and super vibrant. The compositions are surprising and keep things lively throughout the book, so even though we’re seeing construction trucks on the same worksite things don’t get too repetitive. The blocky people seem to be serious about their jobs (and their lunches).
Well, except this guy. What’s his deal?
Final Verdict
My grade: C
It’s okay, I don’t have any major objections, but I just don’t enjoy this one all that much. My toddler doesn’t seem that drawn to it, either. It might be better for preschoolers, who could appreciate the different workers going about their jobs.
➡️ Looking for the best of the best? Check out my all-time favorite truck books!
