Book shows kids how to drive, dig and haul

Daddy calls you his back-seat driver.

That's because you sit in the back in your car seat, and you keep an eye out for anything you might like to drive someday. Or haul. Or dig. Or float, run, lift, pump, and tow. Anything with wheels, that's what you notice.

But why wait until you grow up? If you've got “The Ultimate Book of Vehicles From Around the World” by Anne-Sophie Baumann and Didier Balicevic by your side, you can pretend to drive, dig, or haul right now.

Let's say you love construction equipment. Big trucks that haul and dump. Gigantic machines that bust up buildings and dig holes in the ground. Machines that move dirt, that's what you love and you'll find them all on the first pages of this book.

Have you ever been on a scissors lift? If you haven't, you'll get an idea of what it's like by moving the one in this book. You'll also see what happens when recycling trucks and garbage trucks pick up their big loads.

Or maybe you're a fan of farms. Do you love tractors and combines? Then you'll like the ones in this book, because you'll see how the insides of some machines work.

Do you and Grandpa share a love of trains? Then you'll want to show him what's here: two big pages of trains complete with a chance to peek inside to see what they haul. Now you'll never have to wonder if there are people or freight riding in those boxcars!

There are even more big trucks inside this book. You'll see ambulances and fire trucks and a fire lift so you can help save someone's life. You can look inside a great big freight ship, a luxury cruise ship, a medium-sized fishing boat, and a fancy yacht. If you want to be an airplane pilot someday, then you'll like seeing the inside of a jumbo jet, a cargo plane, and a glider. Be sure to spin the helicopter propeller!

And finally, if your need for speed is out of this world, check out the last page of this book. It's going to send you over the moon!

So you say you've got a wheel-wild youngster in the house — one who can't get enough of big machines that go? Then you're going to want to go find “The Ultimate Book of Vehicles From Around the World.”

But giving car- and truck-loving kids cartoon drawings of motorized equipment isn't all that authors Anne-Sophie Baumann and Didier Balicevic offer. On just about every page of this colorful book, there are tabs to pull and flaps to lift. Your kids can deliver cargo, roll a cement mixer, raise a scissor truck, dump garbage, make hay, feed their neighbors, douse a fire, and captain a ship.

And what 3- to 5-year-old wouldn't love all of the above? I don't know, but I do know lots of dads who would enjoy sharing this book, too. I think “The Ultimate Book of Vehicles From Around the World” is one they'll both dig.

• Terri Schlichenmeyer, aka The Bookworm, has been reading since she was 3 years old and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 12,000 books.