Smash! Mash! Crash! There Goes the Trash!
PreSchool-Grade 1–Rhythmic, rhyming language abounds as two piglets welcome the early-morning arrival of a pair of Rumbling, roaring garbage trucks. All of the offal details are here as the green behemoths gobble up everything from apple cores and dirty diapers to broken furniture. Smiling porcine workers, with Greasy gloves…sticky boots…/stains a-plenty on their suits, feed the beasts while Flies a-buzzin'/by the dozen enjoy a feast at the rolling bug buffet. After completing all of the Crushing,/cramming,/screeching,/slamming, the vehicles thunder away, leaving the youngsters to re-create the action with their toy replicas. Done in ink and egg tempera on canvas, the vivacious two-page paintings convey the text's enthusiasm and energy. The trucks, shown from the rear and personified with mouthlike hoppers and red brakelight eyes, gleefully munch their way through an array of vividly colored refuse. The pigs are appealing, and readers can follow the antics of their dogs as they rush outside to be part of the fun. Pair this onomatopoeic offering with other tongue-tingling read-alouds, such as Kate McMullan'sI Stink!(2002) and Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha'sTrashy Town(1999, both HarperCollins), for a crash-bang storytime on a perennially popular topic.–Joy Fleishhacker,School Library JournalCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.