by Brianna Caplan Sayres and Christian Slade
When I was pregnant with my son, I went to a bookstore to browse and daydream about what I would read to him someday. All the beloved books from my childhood were there. More modern books with more modern, artful illustrations. Creative, beautiful, and educational. I dreamed we’d cuddle up together and dig into the best of the best.
Then my eye caught on something. A board book, titled Diggers Love Their Mommies. “How… bizarre,” I thought. I pulled it off the shelf, and yes! It was a book about excavator children, excavator mommies, and how much the excavator children love to do excavator activities with their excavator mommies. “Thank goodness,” I thought, “I will never be one of those parents who buy those books! The pandering books about trucks and truck families! Ha!”
Why Where Do Diggers Sleep At Night is actually great
Here is where I admit that not only do I now own Diggers Love Their Mommies, I actually own FIVE of these godforsaken books. We keep getting them as gifts. But the reason we keep getting them as gifts is because I (and my kid, and my husband) actually really, really like the original. So we have it out a lot, and then people have bought the sequels for us.
▶️ Looking for the best of the best? Check out my all-time favorite truck books for toddlers.
The concept is quite similar to the slightly-more-famous book Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site. Rhyming verses about anthropomorphic trucks doing bedtime stuff. Only here, they’re doing a lot more human bedtime stuff—brushing teeth, telling stories, bath time, etc. My little kid likes it because it’s more relatable and interesting, and there’s a lot more happening on each page.
But the real reason I love this one is the illustrations. They’re so fun! Each different type of truck gets a different scene and environment, and their facial expressions create this perfect little truck world. Each truck seems to have its own personality and relationship to whatever is going on.
Look at this dad truck with his stinky kid!
Look at this monster truck admiring his amazing braces!
Look at this fire truck who is just OVER IT!
The text is okay (sometimes pretty clunky, actually) but the illustrations really shine. This is a fun book!
The rest of the series
Again similar to Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site, this thing has spawned about a billion sequels. We’ve had a few from the library, and currently own the following:
- Diggers Love Their Friends
- Diggers Love to Go To School
- Diggers Love Their Mommies
- Diggers Love Their Daddies
…and I can confirm they’re all pretty bad. The rhymes and rhythms are not it. They’re ultra clunky and hard to read out loud.
Combine that with treacly sweetness (the original has at least a little bit of salty goodness mixed in) and they’re a skip for me.
If you absolutely must buy one, make it Diggers Love to Go to School, which at least shows some creative school scenes with light toddler chaos mixed in.
Final verdict
The original: B+
Where Do Diggers Sleep At Night: Buy on Amazon Buy on Bookshop.org
The sequels: F (maybe a D for Diggers Love to Go to School).
(I’ll update this review if we come across any sequels that are worth buying!)
- Diggers Love Their Friends: Buy on Amazon, Buy on Bookshop.org
- Diggers Love to Go To School: Buy on Amazon, Buy on Bookshop.org
- Diggers Love Their Mommies: Buy on Amazon, Buy on Bookshop.org
- Diggers Love Their Daddies: Buy on Amazon, Buy on Bookshop.org
▶️ Want more books that are actually good? Check out my take on the best truck books for toddlers.