I Am a Backhoe by Anna Grossnickle Hines - Book Review & stART

We went outside to explore the other day and opened up our sandbox. YUK! Somehow, despite a lid, the sand inside the turtle shaped box became a soggy, digusting, greenish tinted mess over winter. No sandbox playing for us until we remove the old sand, sanitize and fill with some new, non-green sand. In the meantime, I filled a small dish tub with some sand so the little guy could play in the sand. He's been talking about sand and pretending to be large machines thanks to our latest read: I Am a Backhoe by Anna Grossnickle Hines.

"I dig my hand into the sand, my scooper hand. Dig. Dig. Dig. Lift, turn, tip. I am ... a backhoe." - I Am a Backhoe by Anna Grossnickle Hines

I love watching little boys play. They can turn any inanimate object into a roaring, loud truck and entertain themselves for hours in this imaginative type of play. I'm pretty sure it's an innate ability they possess from birth. Sometimes they even pretend to turn their own bodies into the truck, bulldozing and digging away. No toys needed when you have an active imagination! In the book, I Am a Backhoe, a barefoot little boy pretends to be all sorts of machines - a backhoe, bulldozer, crane truck, dump truck and roller. In the end, Daddy joins in the fun, and carries the little boy on his strong "flatbed truck" back, and they share a quiet moment reading together about...TRUCKS!

Get ready to bend, lift, and back up with some beep, beeping. This picture book is packed full of fun actions and sounds to mimic. The bold, bright illustrations and fun actions make this the perfect book for all truck loving boys. Plus, the illustrations show a dad reading to his son, and all dads out there should definitely pick this one up and read it with their boys (and girls). My daughter enjoys a little imaginative truck play once and awhile, too, especially when Daddy takes the lead.

Author Anna Grossnickle Hines posted an interesting "behind the story" article on her website. The book was inspired by her grandson, Emmett, as she watched him play in the park one day. She describes how she used digital art to create the images in the book.

I Am a Backhoe by Anna Grossnickle Hines. Tricycle Press/Random House (January 2010); ISBN 9780805069709; 40 pages (Review copy provided by publisher)

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My son spent a little time dig, dig, digging in the sand for our stART project this week. We made a backhoe sand picture together. I traced an image of a backhoe with some white glue. We went outside and my son piled sand on top of the picture and pretended to be a backhoe. He was so surprised when we dumped the sand off and a digger appeared! I would have let him make his own drawing but we are almost out of glue. I'll have to buy another bottle so he can experiment.

By the way, if you have a moment, stop by my Library-Loving Blog Challenge post and leave a comment. You comment, I donate...simple as that! We love our local library!







A Mommy's Adventures hosts the "stART" meme (Story + Art) each week. Hope Is the Word hosts a Read Aloud Thursday link-up as well. I am an Amazon affiliate and may receive a very small commission for products purchased through my Amazon links.