ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – Vroom-Town: The Adventure of Santa Claus and The Magic Truck Dust by Emer Conlon @VroomTown #AMagicalVroomTownChristmas #BlogTour
This is a delightful book for children and I’m so pleased to be sharing my review today. My thanks to Emer Conlon for sending me a copy of the book for review purposes and to Linda Green of Books of All Kinds for asking me to be a part of the tour.
Vroom-Town is a wonderful place where all types of trucks live, work and have exciting adventures. All of the Vroom-Town books deal with social issues including bullying and the importance of friendship and kindness.This magical Christmas story is a fabulous journey of excitement, fun, and adventure. The Vroom-Town trucks are all very excited when Santa Claus asks them to make him a new sleigh. Unfortunately, Terrible Terry and Bullydozer have other ideas! They sabotage Santa’s sleigh to make sure it won’t be ready in time to do his deliveries on Christmas Eve! Oh dear! Will the children get their presents? Will Terrible Terry and Bullydozer get their comeuppance? You will have to read the book to find out …
First of all, this is a beautiful looking book. It’s has a really sturdy paperback cover and the pages inside are thick and glossy. I’m pleased to say that what’s contained between the covers matches up to the attractive look and feel of the book.
We are taken to Vroom-Town where all the trucks are asleep on the night before Christmas Eve when all of a sudden they are called upon to help out Santa Claus himself. His sleigh is broken and he needs the trucks to go to the workshop and help build him a new one. They’re happy to help, of course, but Terrible Terry and his friend Bullydozer are not in the Christmas spirit and they sabotage the new sleigh. All the helpful trucks are devastated but Santa sprinkles some magic dust over them and they help him to deliver the presents instead!
This is a lovely, heart-warming story for young children. My son is 5 and he really enjoyed it. It was nice to see that Terry and Bully got punished for their behaviour by being left out of the delivery with Santa, but they were soon forgiven and they still got gifts. I thought it was a nice message about admitting your mistakes and moving on. And of course, the helpful and kind trucks got amply rewarded too.
The illustrations are lovely and colourful and help to bring the story to life. At the end there is a sleigh to colour in, a maze and a secret code to access more games and puzzles on the website.
All in all it’s a really pleasing festive experience and I will be reading it again with my son in the run up to Christmas.
I became interested in writing children’s books probably later than most. Like everything in life, it’s about timing and when my professional career and my imagination collided, the wonderful world of Vroom-Town was created. I started on this journey five years ago and now, after a lot of speed-bumps, we have three books in the Vroom-Town series! – I have another 9 books written and titles for a further 58 – so hopefully this is the start of something wonderful for children to enjoy.
My background is Marketing and I have more than 18 years marketing experience – fourteen years of which has been, and still is, as Marketing Manager of McElvaney Motors, Ireland – Scania Truck Dealer and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle Partner – hence the inspiration for books about trucks!
I am extremely passionate about Vroom-Town and the exciting characters that I have created. I thought that these days, children are playing on their parents’ phones and laptops almost before they can talk and therefore I created an online element to Vroom-Town – which includes games, puzzles and colouring.
When I walk into shops I still get so excited at seeing my books on the shelf and I don’t think that ‘buzz’ will ever leave me. What I really enjoy immensely is doing Vroom-Town Storytimes in libraries and schools when I can see the delight in children’s eyes and their reaction to the stories. I love getting their feedback and finding out who their favourite character is and which part of the stories they liked! Afterall, that is what writing children’s books is all about! I am very excited about the prospect of even more children around the world enjoying the books and falling in love with the characters!!
