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The Mixed-Up Truck
It's Cement Mixer's first day on the job and he doesn't want to make any mistakes. How can he help the other trucks on the construction site? By mixing some powdery white cement, of course!
He mixes it up, adds a little water, and presto . . . a cake?! He must have mixed flour instead of cement.
Not to worry, he'll try again . . . and presto! Frosting?! He'll keep trying until he gets it just right and it's time for one more mixing: a bubble bath!
He mixes it up, adds a little water, and presto . . . a cake?! He must have mixed flour instead of cement.
Not to worry, he'll try again . . . and presto! Frosting?! He'll keep trying until he gets it just right and it's time for one more mixing: a bubble bath!
32 pages, Hardcover
First published July 5, 2016
7 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
Stephen A. Savage
47 books72 followersBrooklyn-based Stephen Savage is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of 15 books for children. He is the recipient of a New York Times Best Illustrated Book award, a Sendak Fellowship, and a Geisel Honor.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
September 26, 2018
Look, I like a book about trucks as much as the next guy who will claw his fucking eyes out if his kid drags one more book about anthropomorphized trucks home from the library, what is your deal with trucks, kid? The problem with trucks is that they're not interesting in any way. And I know, your kid is like "but FIRETR - " Nope. It's not interesting. Shiny! But boring.
I'm not above trolling for likes by posting pictures of my cute-ass kid. Here he is playing with two of a staggering number of trucks that have somehow ended up in our house .
How did I end up with a kid like this? I didn't like trucks when I was young. My wife didn't like trucks. We're not truck people. We're animal people. Both of us were the kind of kid who would come shuffling up to aunts all, "Did you know that whales have baleen?" My wife had a subscription to Cat Fancy, I'm not kidding. (And is that the best magazine title ever? Yes. It just..it says so much.) And now here's this spawn, toddlersplaining the different kinds of backhoes to me. Where did this come from? And before you make any paternity cracks, let me just tell you that he makes dumb jokes and is then enormously entertained by himself, so he's definitely mine.
But this is my cross to bear. Well, mine and the hundreds of other parents I've had bemused conversations with at playgrounds while we watch our toddlers practice their conflict resolution skills on dump truck toys. In the meantime, here's another fuckin' book about anthropomorphized trucks. This one's about an idiot cement mixer that keeps fucking up the cement: he's told "Get a load of white powder!" and he keeps bringing back the wrong white powder. And if you thought now was a good time to make a joke about cocaine, here's the thing:
I'm pretty sure the author beat you to it. This can't possibly be an innocent coincidence, can it? Those are literal lines of white powder laid out for the tired trucks.
Cocaine is a drug that makes you energetic and annoying. It was big in the 80s. I don't know if it's big now; I'm 44, I don't have to know things like this anymore. It's addictive and also it destroys the tissue in your nose and you end up with a nosebleed at the club and now you're yelling and bleeding and people are backing away from you like you were a horned lizard, which is an animal that squirts blood out of its face to ward off predators. See, now that's interesting! Not like this truck bullshit.
I'm not above trolling for likes by posting pictures of my cute-ass kid. Here he is playing with two of a staggering number of trucks that have somehow ended up in our house .
How did I end up with a kid like this? I didn't like trucks when I was young. My wife didn't like trucks. We're not truck people. We're animal people. Both of us were the kind of kid who would come shuffling up to aunts all, "Did you know that whales have baleen?" My wife had a subscription to Cat Fancy, I'm not kidding. (And is that the best magazine title ever? Yes. It just..it says so much.) And now here's this spawn, toddlersplaining the different kinds of backhoes to me. Where did this come from? And before you make any paternity cracks, let me just tell you that he makes dumb jokes and is then enormously entertained by himself, so he's definitely mine.
But this is my cross to bear. Well, mine and the hundreds of other parents I've had bemused conversations with at playgrounds while we watch our toddlers practice their conflict resolution skills on dump truck toys. In the meantime, here's another fuckin' book about anthropomorphized trucks. This one's about an idiot cement mixer that keeps fucking up the cement: he's told "Get a load of white powder!" and he keeps bringing back the wrong white powder. And if you thought now was a good time to make a joke about cocaine, here's the thing:
I'm pretty sure the author beat you to it. This can't possibly be an innocent coincidence, can it? Those are literal lines of white powder laid out for the tired trucks.
Cocaine is a drug that makes you energetic and annoying. It was big in the 80s. I don't know if it's big now; I'm 44, I don't have to know things like this anymore. It's addictive and also it destroys the tissue in your nose and you end up with a nosebleed at the club and now you're yelling and bleeding and people are backing away from you like you were a horned lizard, which is an animal that squirts blood out of its face to ward off predators. See, now that's interesting! Not like this truck bullshit.
August 18, 2016
Almost just as good as Supertruck!! An awesome read, that would be perfect for a truck or transportation themed story time!
But, don't think this one is quite Caldecott winning :(
But, don't think this one is quite Caldecott winning :(
August 16, 2021
Fun Simple story, but can we use the word excavator (man this has turned into my thing...)
January 10, 2017
Cement truck is a little confused as to what he should be mixing.
Read
July 12, 2016This book has semi-cute illustrations but is pretty boring and short. [insert your choice of white powder joke here]
Then again, kids might actually love this. Sometimes I forget to look at it from the kid angle and not just from the Caldecott adult angle.
Then again, kids might actually love this. Sometimes I forget to look at it from the kid angle and not just from the Caldecott adult angle.
July 23, 2016
Pretty darn adorable, and quite silly. My storytime kids enjoyed it immensely, including one boy who had been too shy to speak in previous storytimes. Apparently trucks are his favorite thing!
March 8, 2017
Simple yet surprisingly funny. Would appeal as equally to a four year old as an independently reading six year old.
November 13, 2017
This review was originally written for The Baby Bookworm. Visit us for new picture books reviews daily!
Hello, everybody! Today’s book is The Mixed-Up Truck by Stephen Savage, a light and fun story about a little cement mixer doing his best to help.
It’s Cement Mixer’s first day on the job at the construction site, and he’s ready to help! He asks the other trucks what he can do for them, and they suggest he load up with fine powdered cement and mix it up into liquid cement for them. He does as they ask, but gets his powder mixed up: instead of cement, he mixes up flour instead and makes a cake! He tries again, but this time he confuses sugar for the cement and makes frosting! Can little Cement Mixer get UN-mixed-up in time to help build the building?
This book was short, simple, but definitely fun. Mixer’s eagerness to help, even through his mistakes, is sweet and provides a good opportunity to teach children about paying attention to details and not rushing through tasks. The illustrations are very cute, and JJ definitely enjoyed the anthropomorphic “twucks.” The length is short enough for even very small bookworms, and overall, it’s a great little story about perseverance. Baby Bookworm approved!
Be sure to check out The Baby Bookworm for more reviews!
picture-books
July 11, 2023Preschool Storytime
Attendees: 75
Date: 4/24/23
Theme: Cars
Introduction and announcements: Shake my Silles Out by Raffi (with egg shakers)
Book one: The Mixed-up Truck by Stephen Savage
Song/rhyme/game one: Here’s a House
Here’s a house with a floor
With a floor with a floor
Here’s a house with a wall
With a wall with a wall
Here’s a house with a roof
With a roof, with a rooooooof
*Crash*
There’s no house anymore
Anymore there’s no house anymore
Book two: I Stink! by Kate and Jim McMullan
Song/rhyme/game two: Silly Dance Contest
Book three: Let’s Go for a Drive! by Mo Willems
Song/ rhyme/ game three: Drivin’ in my Car by Ralph’s World
Activity: Let’s Go for a Drive Board Game
Attendees: 75
Date: 4/24/23
Theme: Cars
Introduction and announcements: Shake my Silles Out by Raffi (with egg shakers)
Book one: The Mixed-up Truck by Stephen Savage
Song/rhyme/game one: Here’s a House
Here’s a house with a floor
With a floor with a floor
Here’s a house with a wall
With a wall with a wall
Here’s a house with a roof
With a roof, with a rooooooof
*Crash*
There’s no house anymore
Anymore there’s no house anymore
Book two: I Stink! by Kate and Jim McMullan
Song/rhyme/game two: Silly Dance Contest
Book three: Let’s Go for a Drive! by Mo Willems
Song/ rhyme/ game three: Drivin’ in my Car by Ralph’s World
Activity: Let’s Go for a Drive Board Game
June 27, 2020
This book has been a favorite in my house for years now. Simple, yet imaginative it is perfectly delightful for the youngest readers. What would happen if a cement truck got a little mixed up, and mixed something else instead? Children can see that it’s ok to make mistakes and that everyone can get a little mixed up sometimes. My son has also been really inspired by the illustrations which rely on strong colors and graphic/geometric shapes and lines. He loves to draw his own stories featuring Savage’s characters.
May 24, 2017
Cement truck wants to be useful at his new job. Digger is digging, dump truck is dumping. The other trucks tell mixer to mix up a batch of cements. But mixer gets flour instead of cement and makes a cake! Try again, say the other trucks. So mixer gets sugar and makes icing! Try again. Finally mixer gets cement and makes a building!
Children will love the humor in this one. A great addition for storytime!
Children will love the humor in this one. A great addition for storytime!
December 18, 2020
I loved this. It's cute and fun and reads aloud really well.
Cement Mixer is new on the job. The other trucks tell him to mix up some powdery white cement. But he gets the wrong powder. First he gets flour and ends up making a cake. Then he gets sugar and makes frosting. Finally he gets cement and makes a building. Then, to clean up he gets soap to make a bubble bath. It ends with the trucks going to sleep, which is how every picture book should end.
Cement Mixer is new on the job. The other trucks tell him to mix up some powdery white cement. But he gets the wrong powder. First he gets flour and ends up making a cake. Then he gets sugar and makes frosting. Finally he gets cement and makes a building. Then, to clean up he gets soap to make a bubble bath. It ends with the trucks going to sleep, which is how every picture book should end.
March 10, 2021
Genre: Modern Fantasy
Grade: K-1
This is a short but fun book that students would love to read. With it being short it would be a good book for kindergartners or even preschoolers. It is about a truck that goes to work on his first day and messes up a couple of times but overall is able to fix things. It is modern fantasy because this cannot happen in real life, but it is a good story that teaches a lesson about determination.
Grade: K-1
This is a short but fun book that students would love to read. With it being short it would be a good book for kindergartners or even preschoolers. It is about a truck that goes to work on his first day and messes up a couple of times but overall is able to fix things. It is modern fantasy because this cannot happen in real life, but it is a good story that teaches a lesson about determination.
March 29, 2018
The little cement truck wants to impress the other trucks on his first day at work, but he keeps getting mixed up! Kids will love the silly things that happens when he tries in earnest to mix cement...I know I did!
Simple illustrations and not too wordy, this book is great for the 2-3 year old crowd. And each time you turn the page you can guess what he's going to mix up next.
Simple illustrations and not too wordy, this book is great for the 2-3 year old crowd. And each time you turn the page you can guess what he's going to mix up next.
May 4, 2019
This is a perfect book to read to students to show when you start something new you can't expect to be perfect at it! It will take time and lots of practice to get good and get things right. I would read this book at the beginning of a new lesson or during when I know students are stugglings with something.
October 16, 2019
My toddler loved this book (especially when we gave the other trucks different accents). The cement truck has his first day on the job and gets mixed up see real times before successfully helping to make cement for the new building. Cute. Funny. Managed to make my husband smile the whole time he read it.
July 15, 2019
This is a short little book about a confused little truck. It's surprising and funny with the perfect ending. The pictures are great!
Watch Johanna and Leeanne read this book on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/OnQa-Wt9l_A
Watch Johanna and Leeanne read this book on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/OnQa-Wt9l_A
June 4, 2024
A delightful picture book, perfect for littles who enjoy silliness and surprises, including one very mixed up truck and a cake and frosting and...wait. I don't want to give you any more spoilers, just read this!
Themes: trucks, things that go, surprises
Ages: toddler-1st grade
Pub year: 2016
Themes: trucks, things that go, surprises
Ages: toddler-1st grade
Pub year: 2016
May 15, 2017
A big hit in storytime!
May 18, 2017
Very simple story and illustrations. Kids loved it.
July 5, 2017
Cute illustrations and repetitive text make this one great for babies/toddlers/preschoolers. Could be used for a truck story time, construction story time, cake story time, or bath story time.
August 11, 2017
A cement mixer can't seem to mix cement. Instead he keeps producing other mixed up items. Will he ever get it right? Cute. Toddler and up
August 30, 2017
Adorable!
November 6, 2018
Very cute--the truck keeps using the wrong powder to make the cement (sugar, flour, etc)
January 11, 2019
The book is cute and all, but how are the other trucks being helped if the little cement truck keeps making mistakes? The illogical aspects of the book were a bit too silly for me to ignore.
June 6, 2019
On my list for the ‘Roo when he starts getting picture books!
June 9, 2019
My 2 year old boy loves it - even though he wanted the trucks to be happy on every page
July 17, 2019
Trucks and construction vehicles for the kids; an adorable cake-related plot for me.
October 8, 2019
Ok, daughter gave this five stars. Mom says three.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews