What to Read to Your Kids

Hooray for Garbage Day! Until two years ago, when we relocated from Chicago to Alexandria, VA, if you’d asked me what day of the week was garbage day, I would have looked at you blankly. But all that has changed. Every Thursday morning, when the sound of the garbage truck is heard turning the corner onto our street, giddiness erupts in our household. Breakfast spoons are laid down, the front door is thrown open, and we stand in PJs waving at the orange-clad workers as they dump our trash into their giant steel crushers. And the best part is that they wave back with enthusiasm (and make funny faces at Emily and beep their horn for JP).

Mr. Giddy, the central character in Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha’s Trashy Town (Ages 18 mos-4) is just this kind of “trashman,” the kind who tips his hat at schoolkids, who pauses to pet the dalmatian at the fire station. But it’s the rhyming refrain that makes this book a contagious, bring-down-the-house read-aloud: “Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the Trashy Town!”

I read this book last year to JP’s preschool class and had the kids chanting along at full volume. To top it off, what’s better (just thinking of the children here) than a chance to shout “No!” each time the narrator asks, “Is the trash truck full yet?” Not to worry, parents: you’ll get your payoff on the last page, a reminder that even trashmen have to take baths before bed.

One of Dan Yaccarino’s fun retro-style illustrations for Andrea Zimmerman’s Trashy Town

Other Favorites for Trash Truck Enthusiasts:
I Stink! (Ages 2-5), by Kate & Jim McMullan
Smash! Mash! Crash! There Goes the Trash (Ages 3-6), by Barbara Odanaka

Tagged: Andrea Zimmerman, Dan Yaccarino, garbage trucks in children's books, picture book, trucks

Comments are closed.