Backhoe Joe

Reviewed by: Carla McAllister - New Gloucester Public Library, New Gloucester, Maine, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: December 2, 2014

Review

Nolan is a little boy who has always wanted a pet backhoe. Lo and behold, one morning he spies a little yellow backhoe on his street. He adopts the backhoe and names him Joe, but Joe is a little hard to handle. He digs up flower beds, chases the mailman and digs in the garbage. Nolan tries his best to train Joe. He finally succeeds, but then notices a missing poster with a picture of his Backhoe Joe on it! Will he do the right thing and return the backhoe to its rightful owner? The illustrations are absolutely adorable. Joe has big headlight eyes and a huge smile and Nolan is extremely expressive. This will be a great addition to picture book shelves of every ilk, especially for little boys that love heavy equipment. I recommend this book highly.

Overall Book Score: very good