The Top 15 Truck Books For Toddlers
My son loves trucks: fire trucks, pickup trucks, construction trucks, etc. He loves them all! His obsession started with gears and wheels and The Little Excavator book By Anna Dewdney at 5 months old.
He has transformed my way of thinking. What I once saw as an ugly parking lot or a crowded highway, I now see through his eyes as a place of wonder because they are dominated by all kinds of interesting trucks. On more than one occasion we have literally parked out all morning in a neighbor’s lawn watching trucks tear out and rebuild a driveway. We have followed other trucks through the neighborhood as they lay asphalt and camped out at a nearby sports bar, so we can watch them finish the job. For the rest of my life, whenever I see an ugly old truck, I will smile because they will always remind me of him as my little boy. And since I love him, I now love trucks which I never would have guessed possible. And it all started with reading (and a baby bus toy with gears 😊).
We’ve read so many truck books that I can’t even count them! Not only we do own a crazy amount, but we are always getting new ones out of the library. Here are some of our favorites.
Note: This blog post started with 15 books, and now we have 16 on our list!
1. Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry
My son’s all-time favorite book is probably Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. I’ve discovered it is the childhood favorite of many men, including my husband, as they talk about the book fondly when visiting us. The book follows Ma, Pa, Penny, and Pickles Pig on their road trip to a picnic at the beach. Each page is a new scene. The pig family travels through town and country. They encounter construction and fires. There are also side stories featuring Mistress Mouse, Dingo, and Officer Flossy. Plus, kids can find Goldbug on every page! The best part for kids is that each page is full of all kinds of vehicles. Some of them are realistic vehicles but most are crazy contraptions that capture a child’s imagination. I can just imagine a young Richard Scarry sitting in his middle school class making doodles of all the different types of cars he can think of.
Buy Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry on Amazon. I am NOT currently participating in any affiliate marketing (8/27/25).
2. Elbow Grease vs Motozilla by John Cena
My husband used to read my son Elbow Grease vs Motozilla by John Cena every night before bed. He loves Elbow Grease, his brothers, and Mel the Mechanic. Each brother has a unique personality trait. In Cena’s first book, Elbow Grease, we meet Elbow Grease who is the smallest member of the family. But although he might not be the strongest or the smartest or the bravest, he has gumption, which is something we can all benefit from. In John Cena’s second book, Elbow Grease vs Motozilla, the focus is on teamwork as Elbow Grease and his brothers have to work hard to take on the dreaded Motozilla.
Teaching kids about gumption and teamwork through a monster truck is a fantastic idea if you’ve ever studied mindset principles in education. My only complaint is that I wished John Cena’s teams would develop some Elbow Grease toys!
Buy Elbow Grease vs Motozilla by John Cena on Amazon. I am NOT currently participating in any affiliate marketing.
3. Construction Site: Mission Demolition by Sherri Duskey Rinker
We love all Sherri Duskey Rinker’s books!!! We own at least 6 of her books and regularly check the rest out of the library. They are definitely one of my son’s go-to books. Of course we read Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site. But Three Cheers for Kid McGear! and Construction Site: Road Crew, Coming Through! are also favorites, and he just discovered Construction Site: Garbage Crew to the Rescue! However, I want to focus on Sherri’s Construction Site: Mission Demolition! Because this book focuses on the demolition of building, you can literally hit the book every time something falls down which will make your little guy giggle (especially if he’s too young to talk yet.) It’s so hard to choose just one, so I also wanted to call out Three Cheers for Kid McGear! It just has such a great message and is one of the few truck books to star a female truck.
Buy Sherri Duskey Rinker’s books on Amazon.
4. Little Excavator by Anna Dewdney
Little Excavator, how do I love thee, let me count the ways! This was the all-time favorite of my little guy since he was 5 months old and set in motion his truck obsession. This book is written by Anna Dewdney, the author of the Llama, Llama books, and therefore the rhymes are impeccable. She also includes great onomatopoeia words which make the reading a delight. Dewdney takes us into the world of Little E, who so badly wants to help. But no matter how hard he tries, he’s always in the way of the bigger trucks. That is until he finds the perfect job just for him.
Buy Little Excavator by Anna Dewdney on Amazon.
5. Ladder And Friends Learn to Pray by Anna Cannelongo
When doing prayers with my son, we couldn’t find a prayer book that appealed to young boys. So, I wrote one for my truck-loving toddler! It’s coming Spring 2026!
Ladder and Friends Learn to Pray by Anna Cannelongo is a bedtime prayer book for young kids featuring four vehicles: Ladder, Amby (ambulance), Semi, and Jet. Ladder is going to sleep and his firefighter is teaching him a bedtime prayer. As he reflects upon the day he asks for God’s help to face his challenges the next day. Each prayer has a character trait focus. The book also includes call-outs for parents to help them have spiritual conversations with their children. Join our pre-order list mailing today to be the first to be notified when the book is available for purchase. Note: There is no financial obligations at this time!
6. Monster’s Trucks by Rebecca Van Slykey
Monster’s Trucks by Rebbecca Van Slykey is a clever book that allows the reader to participate in the story, which my toddler loves. Monster has all these cool trucks (hence Monster’s trucks), but he doesn’t like to share. Yet, the reader wants to play with the trucks so badly that he doesn’t listen to Monster; he pushes all the truck’s buttons anyway to Monster’s dismay. My son has so much fun pretending to push all the buttons! He loves the book and the Monster character so much that he regularly asks if Monster can come visit our house someday.
Buy Monster’s Trucks by Rebbecca Van Slykey on Amazon.
7. The Little Ice Cream Truck by Margery Cuyler
Who doesn’t love ice cream? So what’s better for a truck-loving toddler than a book about an ice cream truck? We follow Margery Cuyler’s The Little Ice Cream Truck to the zoo, to birthday parties, and to soccer and baseball games. The illustrations are exciting as we look for overlapping characters; search for the red balloon on each page; and look to see how many dogs steal the ice cream. My son also loves to pick out all the different ice cream treats he wants to try, and he gets excited about Tony’s first birthday party.
Buy The Little Ice Cream Truck by Margery Cuyler on Amazon.
8. Good Night, Little Blue Truckby Alice Shertle
Good Night, Little Blue Truck by Alice Shertle was our go-to bedtime story when my son was an infant. It’s such a cute book with a much needed message for young kids! As a storm approaches, one-by one all the animals take shelter in Blue’s garage. The book addresses how thunderstorms can be scary, but they aren’t so bad when you are all together inside where it’s nice and warm. The illustrator is different than the typical Blue Truck books, but it is still drawn in the style of the original illustrator.
Buy Good Night, Little Blue Truck by Alice Shertle on Amazon.
9. Super Truck by Steven Savage
The high contrast images and short sentences made Super Truck by Steven Savage one my son’s favorite books when he was an infant/toddler. It follows four emergency trucks: a fire truck, a bucket truck, a tow truck, and an unassuming garbage truck. The garbage truck just quietly minds his own business until the city has a snow emergency, and suddenly the mild-mannered garbage truck sneaks into a garage and transforms in Super Truck to save the day.
Buy Super Truck by Steven Savage on Amazon.
10. Trucks Galore by Peter Stein
Fun is the best word to describe Trucks Galore by Peter Stein! His rhyming pattern and meter makes the book a treat to read. Plus, the trucks that he comes up and their matching illustrations are so silly, kids will spend a lot of time just looking at the pictures. Here is one stanza for an example:
“Bird truck, weird truck,
Bushy-beard truck,
Round truck, bent truck,
Circus-tent truck.
Trucks and trucks and
Even MORE trucks!
Loaded roads of
Trucks GALORE trucks."
Buy Trucks Galore by Peter Stein on Amazon.
11. On the Go Awesome by Lisl H. Detlefsen
On the Go Awesome by Lisl H. Detlefsen is a fun book about a boy going on a road trip with his family. Through the window of his car, he sees lots of vehicles. There is a series of three instances for each vehicle. The first instance is where the boy observes the vehicle; the second where he rides it; and then lastly he drives it. It’s a great book to introduce examples of superlatives to your child’s vocabulary, and soon your son (or daughter) will be using the words “crushingly awesome” to describe things 😁.
Buy On the Go Awesome by Lisl H. Detlefsen on Amazon.
12. Old MacDonald Had a Truck by Steve Goetz
“Old MacDonald had a Farm” is a popular song for the preschool crowd. But in Old MacDonald Had a Truck by Steve Goetz instead of singing about animals we can sing about Old MacDonald using the sounds of various construction vehicles. While Mr. MacDonald (with the help of his farm friends) is making a race track, Mrs. MacDonald is suping up and tricking out an old pick up truck to transform it to a cool monster truck.
Buy Old MacDonald Had a Truck by Steve Goetz on Amazon.
13. Where Do Diggers Say I Love You by Brianna Caplan Sayres
Brianna Caplan Sayres is the author of Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night? But my son’s first encounter with her books was the Valentine’s book, Where Do Diggers Say I Love You? My son loved this book, and it was his car seat book for a long time. He would study the pictures during car trips, and then ask us to read the story when we arrived. I like this book because it also shows kids different ways to express love. Some trucks do it with words. Others buy flowers and others do grand gestures. How can I resist helping my kid see different ways to show love to people (and to his mama)?
Buy Where Do Diggers Say I Love You? by Brianna Caplan Sayres on Amazon.
14. Digger, Dozer, Dumper by Hope Vestergaard
Digger, Dozer, Dumper by Hope Vestergaard is a different type of toddler truck book. It’s a book of poetry about trucks. The book features 16 trucks each with its own rhyme scheme. Each type of truck has its own poem that highlights a truck’s personality. Did you know a dump truck is precise? The book features 16 trucks each with its own rhyme scheme.
Buy Digger, Dozer, Dumper by Hope Vestergaard on Amazon.
15. Construction Countdown by KC Olson
Counting forwards and backwards is an important skill for your child in developing numeracy. Construction Countdown by KC Olson supports the concept of counting down. After the first day of reading this book, my son already had it memorized and would repeat it back to us. He also liked finding all the trucks in the giant sandbox at the end of the book.
Buy Construction Countdown by KC Olson on Amazon.
16. Counting Cars by Roger Priddy
Counting Cars is a Priddy Board Book by Roger Priddy. It doesn’t require much reading, but it does work on your child’s counting skills. This was another one of our car seat books as my son liked to study the pictures and all the silly cars and trucks.
Buy Counting Cars by Roger Priddy on Amazon.
Disclosure: I only recommend products/books that I think would be helpful to you in your journey as an educator/parent. All opinions expressed here are my own. I am not currently participating in affiliate marketing (as of 8/23/25). Although, I tried participating when this post was originally written. Although, this post may contain affiliate links, I do not profit on them at this time. However, I left the links since it may be convenient for the reader to see the book on Amazon. Read my full privacy policy here.
Conclusion
If your son (or daughter) loves trucks as much as mine does, I’m sure you read a lot of truck books. I hope I’ve given you a few new ones to add to your collection. Give me your suggestions in the comments!
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Are there any truck books your family loves that aren’t on the list? Please share them with me in the comments below. We are always looking for more!
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