My Big Rig

Wouldn't it be fun to drive a truck across the country?" a boy wonders while playing with a toy semi in his bedroom. London's (the Froggy series) text remains simple and direct throughout ("It's time to roll. I climb into my eighteen-wheeler and hit the road"), as Garofoli (Baby Can't Sleep ) brings the scenes to life with sunny, digitized pictures that put the hero behind the imaginary wheel. Playful landscapes (the truck zooms down a switchback mountain road as a deer looks on approvingly) alternate with nose-to-nose close-ups (the young trucker dunks a chocolate-covered doughnut in his coffee at a 24-hour truck stop) to cover all the bases of the trucker experience and to give readers plenty of vicarious thrills. The fantasy ends with a call to dinner, but resumes when the boy is tucked into bed (where "my big rig rolls... in my dreams"). A good choice for readers who have graduated from Byron Barton's classic Trucks . Ages 3-8. (Mar.)