Tag: yellow

  • Out of the Blue

    Out of the Blue

    What a fantastic message Out of the Blue conveys. It is so uplifting that all will be smiling at the end. We read about a very quiet and very sad little boy and the colour blue world he lives in.

    Everyone seems to accept that all things should be the colour blue because, by Government decree everything should be Blue. In his heart he loves the colour yellow but sadly, that is just not how the world sees life. Even his toast is blue. What can one small, quiet boy do?

    The answer is nothing. He is powerless to change the world until one night, when he opens his cupboard to play with some yellow toys he has found in the bin. He is discovered by his father, who is shocked to see the completely different outlook his son has and reassures the boy, that different is good. But most of all, he is still loved.

    His father takes matters into his own hands and changes their house colour to yellow. Ahhhh! now other people begin to see that different is OK and can be pleasing.

    Slowly, slowly other people begin to see the beauty in variety. Bit by bit people begin to make small adjustments and changes.

    The message here is so powerful and so possible. For one small boy to have begun such a change is remarkable. He is neither brave or bold, but together with love and support, his small action has changed his world. Marvellous!

  • Yellow Truck Road Train

    Yellow Truck Road Train

    Based on a real-life family who live in Katherine, Yellow Truck Road Train will delight any truck mad child’s heart, as a little boy goes on a long trip with his Dad in the Yellow Truck Road Train. For readers not familiar with a road train, it is series of large trailers used for carting stock on long distances and pulled by a massive prime mover. A road train can be up to four trailers or bogies long.

    Set in the outback of Australia where distances are vast and stock needs to be moved long distances, we join the road train at the end of the wet season, as they go to pick-up a load of weaners for the campdraft. A truck steak is enjoyed at night when they stop for a sleep and when they pass Dad’s mate Pickles heading in the other direction, they have a chat to him on the radio.

    Through the eyes of little boy travelling the vast landscape of Australia, children are introduced to a slice of life very different to theirs in most cases. The bold, lavish illustrations capture perfectly the large machinery and equipment used in the remote landscapes of the Outback.

    A very large four page spread at the end of the book details all the many aspects of a typical 6 deck road train and is guaranteed to create hours of enjoyment for children who enjoy trucks and large machinery, with a small glossary included to help with the meaning of  words, such as weaner, build-up and bogle.

    Mandy Tootell has captured the spirit of life in the outback, remote locations and vast distances superbly which is no doubt to her living the life as well as her excellent, bold, big and very real illustration which will appeal to small children who love books about trucks.