cover image Little Red

Little Red

Will Hillenbrand. Little, Brown/Ottaviano, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-316-33362-7

Honk! Honk!/ Beep! Beep!” Little Red, a peppy pickup truck, and driver Katie, deliver true holiday spirit and a special gift to a small town’s residents in a celebratory early concept book with plotting reminiscent of Katy and the Big Snow. On a snowy winter’s eve, smiling Little Red and pale-skinned Katie are heading down a mountainside, loaded up with a bushy evergreen. When they hear a cry—“Help, Little Red, help!”—Katie steers the duo to Purple Delivery Van and hops out with jumper cables to lend a hand. More calls for assistance come from various friendly-faced vehicles of different hues, including Yellow Popcorn Wagon, Orange Utility Truck, and Shiny Silver Sleigh, hitched to a single red-nosed reindeer and piloted by a pale-skinned Santa. Finally, with all of Little Red and Katie’s friends pulling together in the town square, the Christmas tree goes “up, up, up!” Colors, cumulative counting, and cute hardworking vehicles are all part of a day that Little Red calls “Jolly fun!” Ages 3–7. (Oct.)