Little Blue Truck's Valentine

It's a cute concept: delivering valentine's, but then it says something like valentines day is not as fun not getting anything. I'm going to use the story to talk about and teach my son on the idea of expectations, and that we should just do nice things for people without EXPECTING anything in return, that we can feel sad if we don't have the thought returned but that we shouldn't let that stop us from being kind and thoughtful. It's too bad some of the words weren't written differently though. Also: Yes there is a floating cows head. Lol, I don't think that is as problematic as the expectation issue. I will tell my son books are made by people and people make mistakes. Not a big deal.

We are big fans of Little Blue Truck here! My nephews request these books often and then love looking on the back and asking for the other books pictured! If we read one, we have to read them all! I’m so glad they love Little Blue because I do, too! This new offering is no different. I was saddened to learn the original illustrator had passed. But the new “ghost illustrator” (is that the proper term?) is fantastic. This Valentine’s book has the same easy rhyming we’ve come to expect and the illustrations are great! The emotions a picture of a truck can convey is amazing! Poor Little Boue Truck feels lonely when he doesn’t receive a Valentine. And my nephews were so worried for him. Fortunately, this book had a happy ending!

Doesn't quite have that characteristic sing-song flow as most of the other books, but still a cute story and beautiful illustrations. There is definitely a random floating cow head though, no doubt about it...although I doubt my 3 year old will notice, much less care!

My son loves the Little Blue Truck books and this one is no exception. I am slightly disappointed that toad didn't get a Valentine. I mean, he's pictured with one on the cover but didn't get one in the book. Obviously not a big deal, but he has generally been there for Blue. The floating head on the pull-out page is questionable, if not entertaining. My son is too young to know the difference but I find it incredibly distracting. Overall, cute book, I'm glad we have it but it's probably my least favorite of the series.

We love the Little Blue Truck books, as most families do, but this error is disappointing. One person in the reviews claims that there is a body on this cow's head, but there simply isn't. "Get your eyes checked," that reviewer states. Um, YOU are the one who needs to do that. The "darker shade" to which that person refers is just shading on the wall--definitely not the cow's body. More proof of the fact that this is an error is that, if you look to the right on that flap, the cow WITH its body is seen behind the duck. There is only one cow mentioned in this book--not two. The illustrator clearly intended one placement for the cow, forgot, moved on with another plan, and forgot to edit out the original. And somehow, the editors missed this... My three year old was like, "Why is there no body on this cow's head?" It makes me feel as if these books (or at least this one) are rush- written, illustrated, and printed for the quick money. A minimal amount of concern for quality would have caught this error. It definitely lessens my respect for this collection. Also, as much as I enjoy the art style, the pink sky (an attempt to make it feel Valentine's Day-ish) just makes it feel eery--like there's a wildfire going on somewhere in Little Blue Truck's world, or like it's that point in the evening during which you should seek shelter from predators. The story line is also a bit annoying in that Little Blue Truck is sad about not receiving any cards/gifts after he gave everyone else cards. I teach my kids to give without expectation of gifts in return. Wishing for gifts from anyone is unhealthy, in my opinion. It's the friendship and happiness that that friendship brings that should be all that matters. One last thing: no toad! I hadn't even noticed, but my three year old asked, "Why isn't toad with Little Blue Truck this time?" And I just had to say that the writer decided not to include him this time... I'm giving it three stars because we still enjoy reading these seasonal books, but I really hope that the writers, illustraters, and publishers will recognize and avoid this kind of error in the future.