Bulldozer Helps Out
Series: The Bulldozer Books
Written by Candace Fleming
Illustrations by Eric Rohmann
Atheneum Books for Young Readers  5/16/2017
978-1-4814-5894-8
40 pages   Ages 4—7

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“A very little bulldozer learns that taking care of kittens is a very big job in this darling follow-up to Bulldozer’s Big Day from award-winning author Candace Fleming and Caldecott Medalist Eric Rohmann.

“The construction site bustled.
Cement Truck was stirring…stirring…stirring.
Digger Truck was scooping…scooping…scooping.
Crane Truck was lifting…lifting…lifting.
And Bulldozer was—watching…watching…watching.

“Little Bulldozer wants to help, but all the bigger trucks say he is too small. So when Crane Truck says he can clear a bit of debris out of the way, Little Bulldozer is eager for the job. He can do it, yes he can. What he doesn’t expect is to find a family of newborn kittens living in the pile of debris! Can he take care of babies? Now that’s a tough job. A job that happens to be just the right size for Little Bulldozer.” [PUBLISHER WEBSITE]

Review
[WC 550]
Bulldozer, still the small machine at the construction site, feels left out while watching the other big rigs scooping, lifting, and stirring. He wants to help, but the other trucks don’t seem to notice him. “I’ll help!” says Bulldozer. Finally, an area a ways away from the main construction site has yet to be cleared and flattened someone has to build the floors and the roof, but maybe a external company as Winnipeg roofing could be hired for this or you can try these out this website with roofing information. Bulldozer gets the job. Hours later, the site looks unchanged. Bulldozer has not moved for hours. The others decide they were right, Bulldozer is not ready for a rough, tough construction site job . . . until they look closer. Bulldozer has been working, at the roughest, toughest job there is (according to Dump Truck).
Bulldozer may not fully fit in with the other construction vehicles until he grows up. But when given a chance, Bulldozer makes the big truck decision. In this junk pile, he finds a big litter of kittens with their mom. They have made the area their home. Instead of clearing it out, Bulldozer choses to protect the mom-cat and her six babies.

The other construction vehicles notice Bulldozer has not done a thing all day. They stand over him.

“ ‘I thought he was big enough,’ boomed Digger.”
“ ‘I thought he was rough enough,’ rattled Scraper.”
“ ‘Move out of the way, kid,’ roared Roller. ‘I’ll fix that in no time flat.’ ”

Bulldozer stands his ground and tells them all, “ ‘SHHH!’ ”

Did Bulldozer just tells the crew SHHHH? He did and continues to tell them until they hear a “mew” and quiet down. Now the construction vehicles notice the kittens. They understand why Bulldozer has yet to remove the junk and flatten the land. Surprisingly, they are proud of Bulldozer. He took care of a group of kittens who could not care for themselves. He keeps the entire litter and mom safe.

Bulldozer is a hero.

Bulldozer Helps Out is an interesting story for young boys expecting a typical construction site story. They find their rough and tough story has a heart, and its name is Bulldozer. Everything about the story is rough and tough. It is about preparing a construction site for something new. Bulldozer finds something new: a litter of kittens. When Dump Truck says, “But taking care of babies? Now that’s a rough, tough job,” he tells kids their parents are dong the roughest, toughest job there is to do. They, too, are heroes.
Parents may like Bulldozer Helps Out more than their children may. Getting parents to read the story multiple times, even in one day, may not be a difficult task. Bulldozer Helps Out is a good story for teaching acceptance, care of those less capable than yourself, and even diversity and protection of animal habitats. Bulldozer quickly volunteering to care for this group may help young children volunteer.

Bulldozer Helps Out contains wonderful illustrations that use a thick black line to outline not only the construction vehicles, but also the spreads making them all POP and stand out. These thick black lines will also help readers take notice of Bulldozer.

If this is the Bulldozer we can expect in future editions of the series, I hope there are dozens of new Bulldozer Books through the years. The little bulldozer can teach young children much about empathy and, ironically, about being human.

BULLDOZER HELPS OUT. Text copyright © 2017 by Candace Fleming. Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Eric Rohmann. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster, New York, NY.

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Add BULLDOZER HELPS OUT to Your Goodreads Shelf HERE.

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Illustrations from BULLDOZER HELPS OUT by Candace Fleming copyright © 2017 by Eric Rohmann. Used with permission from Atheneum BYR/Simon & Schuster.

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Copyright © 2017 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

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Bulldozer Helps Out
Series: The Bulldozer Books
Written by Candace Fleming
Illustrations by Eric Rohmann
Atheneum Books for Young Readers 5/16/2017
9781481458948