books to fuel the imagination

Have I mentioned how much my lads love trucks?  Maybe it was obvious from their trip to the car show yesterday.  Not a bambini ride passes without several exclamations of "that's my dually/Mack truck/lawn care truck/cement mixer, Mom!"  At times there is dispute as to ownership, but the rule is if we're *imagining* a truck is ours anyway, then it can belong to both lads.   Girls can drive trucks just like boys can, so now the lads declare the occasional purple or rare pink truck as their sister's.  We stand for gender equality here (but I'm not sure where the whole pink and purple being "girl colors" came from).

We have a cache of vintage Reading Rainbow episodes, including one featuring the book Tooth-gnasher Super Flash by Daniel Pinkwater.  As fun as that book is -- and it is -- two of the books the kid reviewers at the end recommend are among our most-oft requested books from the library.

We can scarcely get through Truck Song by Diane Siebert (pictures by Byron Barton) for all the "that's my ____!" claims on the semis and other trucks that fill the pages.  The rhyming text and colorful graphics make it appealing for younger gearheads, and the variety of trucks (not to mention the subject matter) keep it interesting for those well-versed in the lingo of "rigs" and such.

Fill It Up: All about Service Stations by Gail Gibbons conjures up memories of the small town gas stations of my small hometown that are not so common anymore.  Depicting a fictitious full-service station from the day shift to the night shift, the station offers not only gasoline but also towing and auto repair services.

The lads relish these books each time we check them out as though they've never read them before.  I myself am so accustomed to truck-spotting as I drive that it is my default mode to point them out.  When I'm driving somewhere with just the lass in the car, sometimes I catch myself wondering whether to draw her attention to that sweet-looking dump truck or not.  On a recent outing, though, the lads got all excited about a purple Mack truck, deeming it to be hers.  She was quick to turn her head in the direction they were pointing.  I guess that's my answer...