How Many Trucks Can a Tow Truck Tow? by Charlotte Pomerantz

Reading it to my son gives me a chance to both have fun and do something important at the same time. I have generally been too serious to fully absorb the lesson about the importance of play as well as work (and that working hard and playing hard fit well together, while neither does so well without the other), but I recognize the truth in it. My mother in particular liked to quote the line about the mean Lord Droon, who thought that “the corners of the mouth should turn down.” I liked it because the page boy saved the day (much like in the next book listed).

I think this one we had to borrow from the library, but it was another family favorite. (I have read that greater-than-usual difficulty in dealing with frustration is common to children with autism.) But I enjoy seeing those familiar illustrations, like long-forgotten friends, and I hope that my younger son will somehow pick up both the fun of the book and a more positive approach to life’s problems. having to deal with problems is certainly something he struggles with – though whether more than most children I don’t know.

I don’t know whether my son appreciates the lesson or not when I read it to him. Perhaps the lesson was obviously true enough from my own experience – that there are always some problems in life, there’s nowhere you can go to escape them all, and instead of running away you need to deal with them – that I just enjoyed the wacky creatures and illustrations rather than feeling preached to. I’m sure I realized, as a child, that this book was teaching a lesson about life as well as the joy of reading, but I never minded. Children’s I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew by Dr.

How Many Trucks Can a Tow Truck Tow? by Charlotte Pomerantz