A no-nonsense, tough-talking New York City garbage truck explains how he scarfs down your bags of trash each night while you sleep. “See those bags? I smell BREAKFAST!” That truck's got a mug on him, by turns grinning, scowling, and looking tough. Thick, black-outlined watercolors against dark charcoal backgrounds lit yellow by streetlights and headlights are evocative of the eau de garbage, while the truck’s free-form monologue blasts across the page in huge letters. Engines roaring, the odiferous vehicle takes a minute for a full-page “BURRRP!” And then the piece de resistance, a 5-page illustrated alliterative alphabet of garbage. “Get a load of my recipe,” the truck chortles, starting with Apple cores, Banana peels, Candy wrappers, and Dirty diapers. “Eeeeuuuwww,” your listeners will squeal in disgusted delight. Bet they can then recall and recite the garbage ABCs back to you, no sweat.

In response, kids can draw pictures of the machines and vehicles they know and love, draw pictures of them with faces (or make paper bag puppets), and act out first-person monologues, describing what they do. Think of it: talking airplanes, toasters, canoes—the possibilities are uproarious. Need a fancy educational name for that? It’s personification.

You could play a virtual garbage game with kids: I picked up my Avocado pit and threw it in the garbage. I picked up my Avocado pit and my Broken Balloon and threw it in the garbage . . . It’s just like the word game, “I Unpacked My Grandmothers Trunk,” only smellier.



THEMES: ALLITERATION. ALPHABET BOOKS. CREATIVE DRAMA. GARBAGE TRUCKS. HUMOROUS FICTION. OCCUPATIONS. PERSONAL NARRATIVES. PERSONIFICATION. REFUSE AND REFUSE DISPOSAL. TRUCKS. VEHICLES.