Send It!

by Don Carter

Book Overview

Young transport fans can follow a package across country by truck, train, plane, and ship in this bright companion to Get to Work Trucks Beginning on Monday ("Wrap it...Mail it "), the story is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761315780
• ISBN13: 9780761315780
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
• Length: 24 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.4" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 2 to 5 years

Customer Reviews

Consider it sent, my friend

I have a problem. As a children's librarian, it's my job to run a weekly toddler storytime for tiny tots. Tiny tots are an odd bunch. If you sing them songs, they'll sit mesmerized for hours on end. If you try to read them books, however, suddenly you'll find them bouncing off the walls and doing everything within their power NOT to look at the book you're showing them. Finding simple picture books that toddlers will enjoy can be harrowing. Fortunately, hope is at hand in the form of one Mr. Don Carter. A quick perusal of his experience is not immediately reassuring. Mr. Carter is (as of 2003) a Creative Director of a Connecticut-based advertising agency. Hm. Just the same, for a ad exec, this is a man who has somehow tapped into exactly the kinds of books that especially small young 'uns go for. The pictures are rich and delicious looking (I'll get to that later), the stories simple to follow, and the plots are toddler-centric. They may go bouncing off the walls for books about cats or dogs or extraterrestrials, but when it comes to the mail their little mouths hang open and their little eyes stare intently. The plot in five words or less: Childs sends package to friend. Child number one, living in a cold and snowy winterland, addresses a big brown box to a friend and takes it to the post office to send. From here we watch the package as it makes a somewhat harrowing journey. From post office to truck, from truck to forklift (where it balances precariously), from forklift to boat, boat to airplane, airplane to train (you do begin to wonder where the heck child number two LIVES), train to mail carrier, and mail carrier to friend number two. Friend number two opens it during his birthday party and receives (what else?) a toy mail truck of his own. From the abrupt change of seasons, a person has to assume that one of these kids lives in Australia and the other somewhere in North America. But maybe that's just my interpretation. Very simple words make up the book's text. Once in a while a date is given. The first two-page spread proclaims it to be "Monday", big and bold. It's accompanied by simple instructions like, "Wrap it. Tape it. Address it". Kids beginning to read may find this to be an especially good book to begin with. Those children fascinated by different modes of transportation may also take pleasure in the variety of ways the package gets around. For me, however, it's Carter's illustrations that make it such a thoroughly satisfying read. Using a style that utilizes foam board, drywall compound, and acrylic paint, Carter has found a way to give these pictures a rich thick feel. For some reason, these pictures look as if they were made from a delicious variety of gooey frosting. It's fun to watch the images (whether they be people, boats, or pets) cast shadows on the backgrounds behind. It gives the story a three-dimensional look that it might not have had otherwise. Some people ask me for very simple