I'm Cool

Reviewed by: Sheila Dube - Springvale Public Library, Springvale, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: November 18, 2015

Review

In the popular series that highlight trucks and machines, the McMullan team puts the cool as a cucumber Zamboni Machine to work in this fast-action, sure to be a hit picture book. Readers will jump right into the hockey game as the announce calls the plays on the title page. Zamboni eagerly waits to clean the ice as the announcer declares the ice too rough for the players and challenges the Zamboni Machine to work his ice smoothing magic in 18 minutes. Can he do it? "Chill, Big Talker. I've got what it takes to do the job." asserts Zamboni. As the machine evaluates how deep the ruts are in the ice, the announcer goads him into action from the booth. Zamboni is smooth, he explains how his "ice-shaving, snow-eating, water-spraying, slush-slurping, towel-dragging" moves makes the ice "SHAZAMBONI" smooth. The illustrations show how the Zamboni is feeling with his big eyes as well as the details on how the machine levels the auger, squirts and vacuums up the water. The perfect mix of dialogue, onomatopoeia and attitude makes this a winning choice for story times and young truck lovers. It's "SHAZAMBONI, Baby. That's right."

Overall Book Score: very good