Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site

June 13, 2011
A noisy construction site may be an unorthodox setting for a bedtime story, but newcomer Rinker and Lichtenheld (Shark vs. Train) tie together the dual themes neatly. Though more subdued than the trucks that drive Kate and Jim McMullanâs I Stink! and Iâm Dirty!, these anthropomorphized vehicles have a similar graphic feel and cheerful demeanor. After five machines are first pictured hard at work, they appear against a blazing sky: âThe sun has set, the work is done;/ Itâs time for trucks to end their fun./ So one by one theyâll go to bed/ To yawn and rest their sleepy heads,/ Then wake up to another day/ Of rough-and-tough construction play!â Each truck performs one final task before settling down to sleep, with gentle encouragement: âShh... goodnight, Bulldozer, goodnight.â Rinkerâs rhythmic verse reinforces the vehiclesâ love of their work (Dump Truck âmoves the dirt/ from place to place,/ Then dumps it with a happy faceâ) and, like Lichtenheldâs art, deftly balances the storyâs boisterous and drowsy elements. Truck lovers will happily nod off to the strains of this read-aloud. Ages 4â8.

July 31, 2017
This polished spin-off of Rinker and Lichtenheld’s bestselling Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site features graduated pages shaped like five construction vehicles. Rinker’s sturdy rhymes touch on how the vehicles operate (“Bulldozer pushes on his thick, strong tread./ Mighty Dump Truck hauls dirt in his bed”), and small labels on each illustration point out their pertinent tools and gear (outrigger, scoop, canopy, etc.). Though the emphasis is on hard work, the static profile views of the vehicles and the dark blue backdrops against which they are set play right into the soothing bedtime theme of the book’s final pages. Up to age 3. Agent: Amy Rennert, Amy Rennert Agency.