The Three Little Rigs
Grade 1-3–Three little rigs are sent off by their mama to build their own individual garages. The blue one builds his out of wood, the yellow one uses bricks, and the red one makes his out of steel. The evil wrecking ball comes and smashes the first two. The final rig, along with his brothers, enlists the help of the cranes and sends the wrecking ball, the mean magnet, and the cruel cutter to their fiery deaths in the melting pot. This fractured tale is not for the faint of heart. The wrecking ball itself has a scary, monsterlike face. The pages with the rigs are, by contrast, light and shiny. The accomplished artwork adds great drama to the story. Kids who love trucks will enjoy this adaptation, and fans of David Gordon'sThe Ugly Truckling(HarperCollins, 2004) are also a likely audience.–Linda M. Kenton, San Rafael Public Library, CACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.