The eponymous main character invites readers to tour a captivatingly silly array of real and fantasy trucks in the groovy, imagination-affirming picture book Trucky Roads, written by Terrestrials podcast host Lulu Miller (Why Fish Don't Exist) and illustrated by Hui Skipp (Maps for Penguins).

"If you can dream it, it could be," says Trucky Roads, a brown-skinned man with a curly, full beard who wears a pink cap, sunglasses, and a bohemian outfit. While "some people look at the road and just see TRUCKS," if you ask Trucky Roads, "you can see there are all KINDS of trucks." Which KINDS of vehicles? Well, there are industrious garbage trucks, helpful dump trucks, and hurrying fire trucks. There are also Earth Trucks, Wind Trucks, Water Trucks and a tow truck towing a Toe Truck, which sports a full foot of pink toes in place of a grill. "And that's just while awake," Trucky says as he leads readers into a cosmic dreamscape where a Cloud Roller makes puffy white clouds paper flat. The book ends with an encouragement to the reader to "add some wheels" and imagine their own fanciful machines.

Miller rolls through the lorry lineup in an upbeat, pun-forward rhythm punctuated by philosophical moments. Skipp's fully saturated, imaginative digital illustrations conjure a host of cartoonish vehicular characters that are exuberant, enchanting, and even (in some cases) edible. Young truck fanatics may find their minds expanded here while the non-vehicularly inclined may see the big machines in a friendlier light. "Truck is in the eye of the beholder," after all. --Jaclyn Fulwood, youth services manager, Allen County Public Library

– Shelf Awareness, 6/14/24

" A high-energy truck rally with far-out vibes."

– Publishers Weekly

* "Meet dozens of marvelous trucks ... a clever spin on a well tred topic."

– Kirkus, starred review

*Meet dozens of marvelous trucks.

“Some people look at the road and just see TRUCKS.” But Trucky Roads, a bearded, brown-skinned, pink-hatted vehicle enthusiast, knows that “there are all KINDS of trucks.” Trucky’s every bit as enthusiastic about the plethora of vehicles gracing these pages as readers will be. Miller puts a clever spin on a well-tread topic. Everyone’s heard of fire trucks…but what about an earth truck (a green truck filled with dirt), a water truck (a blue vehicle with a long hose curling off its side), and a wind truck (a bus with a windmill on top)? And we all know about tow trucks…but what about toetrucks? Seated in a smiling tow truck, Trucky tows a foot-shaped vehicle containing an array of footwear. The whimsical, lightly rhyming text builds to a fever pitch as Miller lists truck after truck: “Monster Trucks AND Tiger Trucks / Pickup Trucks AND Put-Down Trucks / Diggers AND Mixers AND Rollers AND Cranes / Piggers AND Fixers AND / Bowlers AND Sprains.” It’s sure to provoke giggles and have kids chiming in with their own variations. Skipp’s blocky digital art has a collagelike feel, and the tie-dyed palette, paired with the hilariously surreal array of vehicles and Trucky’s own philosophical attitude (“Truck is in the eye of the beholder,” he tells an onlooker), gives the book a playfully psychedelic vibe.

A gloriously bright, inventive world on wheels. (Picture book. 2-6)

– Kirkus STARRED Review, 5/15/24

Though “some people look at the road and just see TRUCKS,” bearded enthusiast Trucky Roads sees “all KINDS of trucks” in this imaginative appreciation that muses on the vehicles’ many modes. Early pages list commonplace variations (dump trucks, garbage trucks), but things grow increasingly outlandish after Roads muses, “If you can dream it, it could be.” On the next spread, which introduces “Tow Trucks and Toe Trucks,” Roads is seen in the cab of a tow truck pulling a foot-shaped vehicle wearing a Band-Aid. Amid the goofy assemblage, things turn contemplative: asked whether a Bus Truck is “a bus made of a truck, or a truck made of a bus,” text indicates that “Truck is in the eye of the beholder.” And the onset of nighttime suggests even dreamier opportunities for vehicle expansiveness. Punny narration from Miller and friendly-faced digital renderings by Skipp conjure a high-energy truck rally with far-out vibes. Human characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (June)

– Publishers Weekly, 4/15/2024