About this item
Meet Clarence, a rickety old truck who goes from average to awesome when an unexpected trip through a mysterious truck wash transforms him. With pumped-up tires, a revved-up engine, and a squeaky-clean exterior, Clarence becomes a town hero! In his first adventure, Clarence - aka "Mighty Truck" - pulls a friend from the mud, rescues a kitten, and stops a loose beam from destroying Axleburg. Fans of Disney's Cars and Thomas the Tank Engine will love this action-packed picture book, illustrated by Troy Cummings and written by bestselling author Chris Barton (of Shark vs. Train) !
About the Author
I'm the author of picture books including bestseller SHARK VS. TRAIN, Sibert Honor-winning THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS, and WHOOSH! LONNIE JOHNSON'S SUPER-SOAKING STREAM OF INVENTIONS, which has been included on 21 state reading lists. Other well-known titles of mine include HOW TO MAKE A BOOK (ABOUT MY DOG) , FIRE TRUCK VS. DRAGON, DAZZLE SHIPS, THE AMAZING AGE OF JOHN ROY LYNCH, and WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A VOICE LIKE THAT?My newest books include GLITTER EVERYWHERE! WHERE IT CAME FROM, WHERE IT'S FOUND & WHERE IT'S GOING (illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat; 2023) and MOVING FORWARD: FROM SPACE-AGE RIDES TO CIVIL RIGHTS SIT-INS WITH AIRMAN ALTON YATES (illustrated by Steffi Walthall; a School Library Journal Best Book of 2022) .I visit schools by the score and also love speaking to professional gatherings of librarians, educators, and fellow writers. I'm married to middle-grade/YA novelist Jennifer Ziegler (WORSER, HOW NOT TO BE POPULAR) . Jennifer and I have four adult children and one dog, and we co-host the children's literature video series "This One's Dedicated to ... " in which we talk with other authors and illustrators about the dedications they've written for their books. Jennifer and I live in Austin, where I serve as a council member of the Texas Institute of Letters, a 501(c) (3) non-profit honor society founded in 1936 to celebrate Texas literature and to recognize distinctive literary achievement. For more information about me, please visit or
