The Ugly Truckling - Hardcover

Gordon, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 006054600X ISBN 13: 9780060546007

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2004

Synopsis

As hard as she tries, the ugly truckling cannot keep up with her brothers and sisters. She can't pull logs, she can't carry hay, and her three small wheels are no match for their four big, strong ones. She'll never be a good truck. So the ugly truckling runs away from home in search of her own identity -- and finds out that she may not be such an ugly truckling after all.

David Gordon's fresh twist on a familiar tale is as endearing as it is poignant.

About this title

About the Author:

David Gordon is the author and illustrator of the New York Times bestseller Extremely Cute Animals Operating Heavy Machinery as well as The Ugly Truckling and The Three Little Rigs. He has also done concept work for Pixar's Toy Story I and II; A Bug's Life; Monsters, Inc.; and Cars, as well as the hit Nickelodeon cartoon show SpongeBob SquarePants. He helped design the characters in BlueSky's feature film Robots. Dave Gordon lives in New York City, where he continues to create stories for children.

From Booklist:

PreS-Gr. 2. A felicitous rhyme makes way for a decidedly loose interpretation of Andersen's The Ugly Duckling, one that taps right into little ones' adoration of things that go vroom. A winsome baby "truck," whose appearance suggests that Mommy may have spent some time at the local landing strip, finds himself caught in his suspicious siblings' high beams. "Why do you have three wheels instead of four?" "You'll never be a good truck." Embarrassed and confused, the ugly truckling leaves the garage in search of her own kind. After a series of Are You My Mother?-style encounters, the runaway sees a cheerful squadron of airplanes overhead. An epiphany and a happy ending ensue. Though the pictures have the blocky, slightly garish quality one often sees in computer-generated artwork, Gordon borrows a few tricks from former employers Pixar and Nickelodeon to imbue his baby vehicles with high-octane cuteness. Most kids won't even notice that the notion of plunking inanimate objects into a classic tale of organic transformation is, in many ways, a deeply silly idea. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 006054600X
• ISBN 13: 9780060546007
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Gordon David