Spotlight On: Transportation

I can’t remember how I came up with the idea for this Spotlight On issue — specific topics I dive deeply into, just one time — but the minute I did, I was in.

I hope you enjoy these books about many different types of transportation.

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Touch a Truck Day by Carrie Finison, illustrated by Viola Wang (2026)

🍼 Babies & Toddlers (0–3)

I received a copy of this book from Chronicle Books — all opinions are my own

This cute new book is a bright and lively celebration of the vehicles young children love, with bouncy rhymes and lift-the-flap elements on every page, allowing the littlest readers to explore trucks from the inside out.

From fire engines to street sweepers, ambulances, and beyond — all rendered digitally in Wang’s vibrant, energetic illustrations — this is a fun, interactive title with a small narrative arc and little surprises along the way that will please any toddler and early preschooler. If you have little ones, don’t miss this sturdy, crowd-pleaser.

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School Bus by Donald Crews (1984)

🍼 Babies & Toddlers (0–3)
🧒 Preschool–Early Reader (3–6)

In my book (oh yes, I did) Donald Crews is the OG and can do no wrong — every book he ever wrote was brilliant, sometimes inexplicably so, and that’s certainly true of this classic, which I consider one of his best.

An absolute masterclass in simplicity, here, Crews’ signature bold shapes, primary colors, and minimal text transform an ordinary ride into something rhythmic and almost cinematic, following a bus through city streets as children climb aboard.

The hum of the engine, the stop-and-go of the route offer a quiet momentum, built entirely through visual storytelling. It’s a ridiculous pleasure, in the sense that something so simple maybe shouldn’t be so pleasurable — but it is, and I’ve never met a young reader who didn’t agree.

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Room for Everyone by Naaz Khan, illustrated by Mercè López (2021)

🧒 Preschool–Early Reader (3–6)
📖 Independent Readers (6–9)

Hop aboard a crowded daladala in Zanzibar for a bouncy, rhythmic ride to the seashore. Along the way, you’ll pick up more and more passengers, and as everyone piles in, you’ll hear the protests of young Musa, who is reassured by the driver again and again that “There’s room for everyone!”

It’s hard for me to decide which I enjoy more: reading aloud Khan’s playful, cumulative rhyme, or taking in López’s kinetic acrylic, ink, graphite, and digital illustrations, but who cares? They equally capture the humor, generosity, and beautiful chaos of the journey — not to mention the joy and possibility of making space for others, which is a message that never gets old.

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Ride Beside Me by Lucy Knisley (2024)

🧒 Preschool–Early Reader (3–6)
📖 Independent Readers (6–9)

This review first appeared in my mini issue on bikes and biking — I’ve edited and updated it here

Are you ready?
I’m ready!
I’m holding on tight.
My helmet is on, and
the morning is bright.

So begins a sweet adventure between mama and kiddo as they hop on their bike and ride through their neighborhood, picking up friends and neighbors — all on their own bikes — along the way.

Eventually, there are so many bikes, they take over in a kind of big, celebratory bike parade — the child here says, “It’s like we’re a club, or a party… or a sea!”, full of all kinds of bikes for all kinds of riders.

Knisley, a comic creator, does an excellent job with her gouache illustrations, using her colorful, fun images and rhythmic text to pick up the pace, not only of the ride but the community vibe — there is a palpable coming together here, a sense of being in it together, not only to foster safer streets and cleaner air but also a brighter future.

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Airplanes Soaring! Turning! Diving! by Patricia Hubbell, illustrated by Megan Halsey and Sean Addy (2008)

🧒 Preschool–Early Reader (3–6)

This energetic, rhyming tour through the busy world of flight, with short, propulsive lines, introduces a wide range of planes and their purposes, from banner-pullers to cargo carriers, all in motion across the sky.

The illustrations are dense and eclectic — in addition to drawings, etchings, and maps, Halsey and Addy used clip art, yes, clip art, but it works. The book's mixed styles, perspectives, and playful details carry it forward as much as the rhyme.

Best suited for toddlers and younger preschoolers, it’s a lively introduction to airplanes. Let’s go! ✈️

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National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Things That Go by Karen De Seve (2017)

🧒 Preschool–Early Reader (3–6)
📖 Independent Readers (6–9)

Long-time subscribers know my love for all things Nat Geo — especially the magazine itself — knows no bounds, and I’m a big fan of their various series for babies and little kids. The First Big Book… titles are particularly well done and cover a variety of topics with, of course, tons of photos to pore over and explore. (These books make great “looking books”!)

The best kind of straightforward nonfiction — i.e., the facts and just the facts, ma’am — this compendium covers everything from bicycles to rockets, with clear, age-appropriate explanations of how different vehicles work, just enough text to inform without being overwhelming. (Prepare yourself for much lingering and question asking.)

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Working Boats: An Inside Look at Ten Amazing Watercraft by Tom Crestodina (2022)

📖 Independent Readers (6–9)
📚 Middle Grade (9–12)

If David Macaulay had a baby with… well, David Macaulay, this is the book that would pop out. It’s a deeply immersive, detail-rich exploration of life on the water, with intricate cutaway illustrations (you had me at hello), labeled diagrams, and tons of explanation about what it all is and how it all works, revealing not just what these vessels look like, but how they function inside and out.

From tugboats to crabbers, each page invites slow looking, packed with mechanical detail, slices of daily life, and small visual surprises — in other words, read this at bedtime at your own risk. Better yet, hand this to your older nonfiction lover who can handle lots of text and wants to peer into a one-of-a-kind, fascinating window into working vessels and the people who rely on them.

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Clackety Track: Poems about Trains by Skila Brown, illustrated by Jamey Christoph (2019)

📖 Independent Readers (6–9)
📚 Middle Grade (9–12)
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family Read-Aloud (all ages)

Of course I’m reviewing a poetry book about transportation — it’s like you don’t know me at all

Morning in the Yard

Sun’s up — it’s morning in the yard.
Trains move on their private boulevard.
Look close — not every train’s the same.
Let’s see how many we can name
as they depart from where they’re stored.
Come on! Hop on now. All aboard!

In this wide-ranging celebration of trains in all their forms, Brown captures in short poems everything from bullet trains to sleeper cars, with language that mirrors each train’s movement, sound, and purpose. Each page is playful, with poems that shift in shape, structure, and tone, sometimes stretching across the page or echoing the clatter of the tracks, alongside Christoph’s retro digital illustrations that add texture and momentum.

This is a great pick for early elementary kiddos, especially those who may give poetry the side eye. It’s an excellent way to demonstrate that poetry can be about anything, and there’s poetry for everything…

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Thanks for reading!

If this newsletter has ever helped you find a book, try something new, or show up more intentionally for the children in your life, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. There’s no paywall because I want this to be as accessible as possible, but this work takes a real investment of time, energy, and (quite literally) resources — like this Spotlight On issue. Supporting it, if you’re able, is what allows me to keep doing it.

I appreciate you either way.
Sarah