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Little Excavator / Anna Dewdney.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Viking, 2017Copyright date: ©2017Description: 1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 29 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
Audience:
  • Children
ISBN:
  • 9781101999202
  • 1101999209
Subject(s): Genre/Form: DDC classification:
  • [E] 23
Summary: "Little Excavator wants to help the big rigs transform a vacant lot into a neighborhood park, but he is too small to get the job done! That is, until he finds a job that is a perfect Little E-sized task"-- Provided by publisher.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
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    Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Book Book Bedford Public Library Picture Books - Things That Go Fiction E DEW Available 32500002167774
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From New York Times bestselling author-illustrator of the Llama Llama books comes a new character ready to dig his way into your heart!

Here come the BIG RIGS
rolling down the street.
Thumpa-thumpa
bumpa-bumpa
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

There's Loaderand Dump Truck,Backhoe and Crane.They're ready to transforma vacant lot into a neighborhood park. And who wants to help most of all?

Little Excavator! But are there any jobs for someone so small?

Anna Dewdney's signature rhyming text and inviting illustrations make this a perfect read aloud for for fans of things that go!

"Little Excavator wants to help the big rigs transform a vacant lot into a neighborhood park, but he is too small to get the job done! That is, until he finds a job that is a perfect Little E-sized task"-- Provided by publisher.

AD480L Lexile

Decoding demand: 35 (low) Semantic demand: 71 (high) Syntactic demand: 58 (medium) Structure demand: 78 (high) Lexile

Accelerated Reader AR LG 2 0.5 190264.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Little E, the smallest construction vehicle at the site of a future park, is eager to do his part in this raucous rhyming outing from the late Dewdney (the Llama Llama series), which is stuffed with noisy vehicular sound effects. "Little E tries lifting up some junk junk junk!" she writes, but the load is too much for him, and "there goes Little Excavator-over with a clunk!" The big trucks are kind and ready to rescue him, but they're also busy (children will almost certainly think of the adults in their own lives), and it proves dispiriting for Little E to be constantly reminded that he's neither independent nor helpful ("Not yet, Little Excavator... Someday when you're big"). The story is familiar, but Dewdney's little hero is so chipper and gung-ho-he breaks into a small, confident smile whenever he's had a success-that it's impossible not to root for him. When he finally gets a job that's a perfect fit for his diminutive size, his happiness and the bow he takes are both well deserved. Ages 2-5. Agent: Deborah Warren, East West Literary. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

PreS-K-Little E, a baby excavator, busily tries to help the big rigs as they work to build a park, but he is either too small for the task or in the way. It's only when the construction is nearly done that there's a job that none of the mighty machines can get to, and it's Little E's turn to shine. The cheerful, anthropomorphized machines are illustrated in Dewdney's signature, child-friendly style, and there is onomatopoeia galore as each truck is introduced and gets to work. Fans of Dewdney's "Llama Llama" books will find the rhythm of the text and the positive tone familiar. VERDICT A fun first purchase for all preschool collections.-Kelly Roth, Bartow County Public Library, Cartersville, GA © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

This book sweetly transfers every small child's yearning to play with the big kids to a construction site, where Little Excavator tries his best to work among the big rigs. Winsomely kidlike Little E is eager to show he can dig and fill holes, but mostly he gets in the way of the huge trucks as he topples over or accidentally gets scooped up. The illustrations are cheerful and appealingly detailed, and Dewdney fills the site with hardworking favorites: a bulldozer, a loader, a dump truck, a backhoe, and a crane. But the sound effects are what truly stand out. Simple, rhyming text is punctuated with wonderful machinelike noises: Pusha-pusha smusha-smusha SMASH SMASH SMASH! The story has a satisfying arc, with Little E trying and failing, and then getting pushed aside and told he's too little, until there is a job that only he, being small, can do. Dewdney, the author of the Llama Llama series, passed away in 2016, but has left a marvelous legacy, including this latest charmer.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2017 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A petite excavator named Little E finds his place among a crew of full-sized, heavy-construction equipment working together to build a park.The anthropomorphic Little E, with bright, friendly eyes and a cheery smile, invites readers into the story on the large-format cover. He is followed by a brown-and-white-spotted dog, which appears throughout the story as a friend to Little E. The construction vehicles arrive at an abandoned lot and begin working together to transform the property into a park. The rollicking, rhyming text names each type of rig and its function, including lots of sound effects and action verbs set in display type integrated into the illustrations: "Pusha-pusha smusha-smusha SMASH SMASH SMASH!" Little E tries to help with each step, but he is either too small or not strong enough for the task at hand. The last step of the park-construction project is the planting of a tree on an island reached by a bridge, but all the big rigs are too large to safely cross the wooden bridge. In a pitch-perfect conclusion, Little E is just the right size for the job. Dewdney, the late author/illustrator of the Llama Llama series, has constructed a solid winner for one of her final books, with an appealing main character, vibrant illustrations with varying perspectives, and an action-packed, rhyming text with sound effects just begging to be read aloud with dramatic effect. An A+ for Little E and his creator. (Picture book. 2-5) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Anna Dewdney was born in New York City on December 25, 1965. She received a bachelor's degree in art from Wesleyan University in 1987. Before becoming a full-time author and illustrator, she worked as a waitress, a rural mail carrier, a daycare provider, and taught at a boys' boarding school for many years.

Her children's book career began in 1994 with her artwork for The Peppermint Race by Dian Curtis Regan. She went on to illustrate other children's chapter books in the 1990s. In 2005, the first picture book she both wrote and illustrated, Llama, Llama Red Pajama, was published. Her other books include Nobunny's Perfect, Nelly Gnu and Daddy Too, Little Excavator, and 10 more books in the Llama Llama series. She died after a 15-month battle with brain cancer on September 3, 2016.

(Bowker Author Biography)

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