Little Red, Autumn on the Farm

K-Gr 3–Reminiscent of Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle, this title features a red dump truck called Little Red that travels through Shady Acre helping trucks and tractors in need of repair. Repeated sounds and phrases of “honk honk, beep beep” and “help, Little Red, help” will appeal to young listeners. They will enjoy meeting new vehicles and being exposed to mechanical vocabulary like a seeder’s clogged delivery tube and a combine’s drive belt that is not turning the shoe fan. Throughout the journey, the leaves keep coming down, leading to a Halloween celebration in the center of town. The vehicles are personified with eyes and mouths making them friendly characters for young readers. The soft painted landscapes show autumn colors in a country setting. There’s a lot going on in the story: repetitive fixing of the vehicles, leaves continuing to fall, a Halloween party. The book follows the same pattern of Hillenbrand’s previous book Little Red Saves Christmas where Little Red helped stuck vehicles and raised a Christmas tree in the town.