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Tonka: If I Could Drive
If I Could Drive a Loader
Parker loves playing with his toy trucks. His favorite truck of all is the loader. One day a loader shows up in front of Parker's house. He wonders, What if I could drive a loader? and his imagination takes off! This shaped 8x8 storybook shows children the many jobs a loader can do from scooping dirt, gravel, and snow to carrying trees and leveling fields.
24 pages, Library Binding
First published October 1, 2001
1 person is currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Michael Teitelbaum
554 books51 followersMichael Teitelbaum has been a writer and editor of children’s books for more than thirty years. He worked on staff as an editor at Golden Books, Grossett & Dunlop, and Macmillan. In addition to The Scary States of America, Michael’s fiction work includes The Very Hungry Zombie: A Parody, and The Very Thirsty Vampire: A Parody both done with artist extraordinaire Jon Apple, published by Skyhorse. His non-fiction work includes writing Jackie Robinson: Champion for Equality, published by Sterling, and The Baseball Hall of Fame, a 2-volume encyclopedia, published by Grolier. He is also the series editor of Great Escapes, true-life acts of incredible courage, published by Harper Collins.
Michael has always had an interest in the paranormal, despite a rather normal childhood in Brooklyn, NY. These days, Michael lives with his wife, Sheleigah, and two talkative cats in an (as yet unhaunted) 180-year-old farmhouse in the beautiful Catskill Mountains of upstate New York.
Michael has always had an interest in the paranormal, despite a rather normal childhood in Brooklyn, NY. These days, Michael lives with his wife, Sheleigah, and two talkative cats in an (as yet unhaunted) 180-year-old farmhouse in the beautiful Catskill Mountains of upstate New York.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 8, 2010
The pictures are pretty good and my nearly 4 year old likes these books - though he likes anything with any type of construction equipment.
My gripe with this book lies in the completely inaccurate information. The book says that a loader is used for many things that it can't be used for at all. To the Average-Joe this probably doesn't matter, but to the owner of a construction company (and yes, a loader) it had me and my husband rolling our eyes.
My gripe with this book lies in the completely inaccurate information. The book says that a loader is used for many things that it can't be used for at all. To the Average-Joe this probably doesn't matter, but to the owner of a construction company (and yes, a loader) it had me and my husband rolling our eyes.
August 13, 2016
Michael Teitelbaum, If I Could Drive a Loader! (Scholastic, 2001)
Having a big equipment-obsessed two-year-old means, pretty much by default, we have at least a half-dozen pre-lit books about big equipment lying around. If I Could Drive a Loader! Rivals Working Hard with the Mighty Loader for favoritism at storytime with the Bean. I'm okay with both of them, and they both stand up to repeated readings well, but where If I Could Drive a Loader! shines is in the illustrations, which I've been staring at for months now and still can't quite figure out. Half the time they look so photorealistic that it seems to me they stuck some illustrations on top of actual photographs, and the other half of the time they just look like Bill Thomson-style illustrations that are painfully photorealistic in some parts and impressionist in others. The actual text is a little on the shallow side, but I'm not going to knock a pre-lit book too hard for that, and compared to some of the ones we have it's Pulitzer material. I had originally given this one two and a half stars, but I created that header months ago and am just now getting around to writing this; it's become such a frequent read, and has stood up well enough, that I kicked it up a half-star for the repeatability factor. A pretty good one if your kid is into heavy machinery. ***
Having a big equipment-obsessed two-year-old means, pretty much by default, we have at least a half-dozen pre-lit books about big equipment lying around. If I Could Drive a Loader! Rivals Working Hard with the Mighty Loader for favoritism at storytime with the Bean. I'm okay with both of them, and they both stand up to repeated readings well, but where If I Could Drive a Loader! shines is in the illustrations, which I've been staring at for months now and still can't quite figure out. Half the time they look so photorealistic that it seems to me they stuck some illustrations on top of actual photographs, and the other half of the time they just look like Bill Thomson-style illustrations that are painfully photorealistic in some parts and impressionist in others. The actual text is a little on the shallow side, but I'm not going to knock a pre-lit book too hard for that, and compared to some of the ones we have it's Pulitzer material. I had originally given this one two and a half stars, but I created that header months ago and am just now getting around to writing this; it's become such a frequent read, and has stood up well enough, that I kicked it up a half-star for the repeatability factor. A pretty good one if your kid is into heavy machinery. ***
October 10, 2012
I liked this book because I like to dig dirt with my toy trucks. These books have such good pictures that you can really imagine doing it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews