I have a nephew named Dylan so maybe I'm biased, but it is my considered opinion that this book was far too cute not to like. I liked the scatterbrained Dylan. I can imagine Yoda remonstrating with Dylan as he did with Luke, "...never his mind on where he was, on what he was doing."

Dylan is constantly distracted and not paying attention. He hears 'race' instead of 'pace' and goes racing off. He's focused on a cat on a tree instead of keeping still so he can be loaded with sand, and ends up dumping the sand in the wrong place. But Dylan finally pulls it together and makes a major save, at last realizing that safety is the watchword on a building site.

I commend this book for a fun story by Bently and some colorful and attractive artwork by Chebret. It's entertaining, cute, and educational for that fidgety kid you might know!

I liked the colourful illustrations and the important lessons to be learned, however, it's not really explained why he couldn't concentrate at the beginning. It also seems as though the age of trucks are quite young and this doesn't fit with working at a construction site.

While this book will probably appeal to small children who love books about trucks and heavy machinery, it might not find as many fans among their parents. The message is a bit confusing, and having sentient machines as characters doesn't really help.

The back matter states:

Dylan is a good dump truck, but he gets distracted easily! When an accident happens on the building site, will he be able to focus saving the day?

Now, aside from the grammatical mess that is the second sentence, the problem is that there's no accident. Dylan averts an accident because he's suddenly paying attention. Why he couldn't pay attention before--which leaves him distracted by airplanes in the sky and cats in trees--isn't really explained. Maybe it's just that he's young and easily distracted... but that calls into question why he's allowed to do what he does. There's a reason we don't let toddlers run excavators on building sites.

The writing wasn't bad until the last page, when one character smiled their words. (Why, authors? Why do you do this to us?!)

The illustrations will likely appeal to kids, but I'm not a fan of the slightly mottled tones. I also don't really like the vapid facial expressions on the characters' faces; unless they have eyebrows in a particular scene, they look a little zoned out.

I'm definitely not the audience for this one, and while I suppose young children might like this story about a distracted dump truck, I'm not sure that the overall message is clear enough. Or maybe it just happens too quick; with so few pages, though, it's difficult to really flesh out a decent story.

The illustrations are quite pretty, but the story is a bit so-so. I don't really want to read my toddler a story about reprimanding a young truck over and over. Honestly, if I'm reading the book and my toddler is paying attention... what's the point of the story?

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks!

This book follows Dylan the Dump Truck as he learns a lesson in paying attention. This is an important lesson al kids (and some adults) need to learn.

My 17 month old son loved this book. It was simple and easy language. The illustrations were colorful and fun.

An engaging story about a young truck learning his role and the boundaries on a construction site.
It begins with great charm and humour as we learn that Dylan the Dump Truck has a poor concentration span.
His lack of attention and poor listening leads not just to a misunderstanding but unnecessary risk and danger.
His instructor persists and when a strenuous task demands full concentration and effort, he monitors his young student closely. Dylan appears not to have convinced everyone he is worthy of such faith and his natural carefree approach will remain a liability in such a dangerous environment.

Many life lessons here.

The humanisation of cars and trucks means the duties and responsibilities of the vehicles should determine character and fitness for purpose. But it allows some scope for mischief.
Since Thomas the Tank Engine children have delighted in troublesome trucks and misbehaving engines.
So this is a clever approach to this tradition of story telling. Dylan is like many a less focused pupil in a classroom, and as with such children we expect some negative fallout. The twist in the story is well conceived and delivered with style and provides a lesson or two.
I particularly enjoyed the sense of character the illustrator achieved in these vehicles. The pastel shades worked well and the incidental detail was also fun.
These books have high aspirations in their approach and the learning outcomes desired.

One book does not a library, so look out for other titles too as the story has surely just begun.

Meanwhile I believe any parent would be happy to share Dylan’s story with their young ones.