Push! Dig! Scoop! is kid counting book comfort food

Children under 6 are fun. Granted they have periods of unpredictability, but on the whole they’re simply little fun people who like books that rhyme. Push! Dig! Scoop! is a counting book that rhymes by Rhonda Gowler Greene with illustrations by Daniel Kirk. For kids 6 and under there is lots to love in this book including the fact that it’s plus sized, packed with color and has a nice variety of machines.

For some kids it’s all about the machines and Push! Dig! Scoop! is loaded with diggers, cranes, graders and more. The trucks in the book are also boy and girl vehicles. First off, we meet a girl bulldozer, she’s overseeing her one bulldozer child as they work in the hot summer sun. In addition to having association by their correct pronoun, the girl machines also have longer eyelashes, whereas the boy machines don’t.

 

After the first dozer we see two excavators, three loaders and so forth. All of the children vehicles are wearing different clothing or have something to distinguish them from each other. Readers follow along as the trucks do their work as their children smile, which is exactly what your kids will do.

Our youngest son who is 5, quickly exclaimed that this was his favorite book after reading it once. He simply saw the construction vehicles, big words on every page and wanted us to re-read it again. I doubt that it’s his favorite book, that honor would probably go to Ten Apples Up On Top!, which he’s been exposed to since birth. However, he does really like Push! Dig! Scoop! and is his current go-to book whenever we read to his pre-K class. The book resonates with both boys, as well as, girls and is short enough to read a couple of times when kids are delaying bedtime.