Snug in the Storm: Goodnight, Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle

The birds are swiftly winging their way toward their nests, and with best friend Toad at the wheel, Little Blue Truck is heading homeward, too. Lightning is starting to flash as they dash toward their snug garage.

Such a wet and stormy night!
Their warm garage was a welcome sight.

But before they even close the door, they have a guest with a request!

"Maaaaa!" said Goat. "Please, Little Blue!"
"Can I come in and stay with you?

And Goat is only the first to arrive. Hen flies her coop to roost on top of Little Blue, followed one by one by the other farmyard animals--Goose, Pig, and Duck, who take cover in the warm, dry garage. Pig wriggles in under Little Blue, and Duck and Goose flap and ruffle their feathers to shake off the rain. Even Cow shows up to squeeze into the now quite crowded little red garage.

Somehow, when they're all together, the lightning's crashes and flashes don't seem so very scary!

The storm ends with a bit of soft rain, and with a jolly, "Climb right in!" Little Blue Truck gives the sleepy friends all a ride back to their waiting coop and perches, stall and pen.

The rain had stopped,and way up high,
the moon was a smile in a starry sky.

With the happy image of the crescent moon's smile, a dark and stormy night ends with kind words and comforting companionship, in Alice Schertle's forthcoming sequel in her beloved series,Good Night, Little Blue Truck (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019). Author Schertle's perfect little rhymes offer soothing succor, and for kids who find crashy, flashy thunderstorms a bit frightening, with the comfort of companionship they find that a nighttime rainstorm may even induce a few yawns. With jolly illustrations "in the style of the late series illustrator Jill McElmurry," artist John Joseph keeps the rustic scene warm and sweet with McElmurry's familiar soft pastels and rounded touch.

Who wouldn't want to ride out a scary storm and be put to bed with Little Blue Truck! It's the best bad-weather bedtime story ever! Share this one with Schertle's seasonal Little Blue Truck's Halloween (see review here.)

Always Room?...: Boom! Boom! Boom! by Jamie A Swenson

ONE STORMY NIGHT I JUMPED INTO BED,

SAFE WITH A BOOK AND MY TEDDY BEAR FRED.

Our little bedtime boy is fine with snuggling in his comfy bed and listening to the thunderboomer pass over. But soon it seems that he's the only one who's not frightened  by the storm.

FLASH! CRASH!....  "AROOOO!"

The boy's pup runs and jumps into his bed. Fine. Room for two, plus Fred!

Then there is a plaintive yowl from somewhere, and Kitty makes the transition, leaping into the now less roomy bed. Move over, Fred.

Kitty is soon followed by a guinea pig squealing "FEE  FEE!" and a frog with a nervous "RIBBET!"  Another flash and crash brings a parrot and a snake, squawking and hissing.

"AT LEAST YOU'RE THIN," THE BOY SAYS TO THE SNAKE.

Still, it's getting sorta snug in the boy's little bed, what with that snake coiled around them and all.

And then another boom of thunder brings...Sis, who streaks into the room and vaults right into the midst of it all ... with the inevitable results. With a creak and and a crash, the bed collapses, and all the interlopers flee, perhaps for Sis's still intact bed! Ah! Peace!

Jamie Swenson's Boom! Boom! Boom! (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2013) plays with the basic premise of the old folktale, Always Room for One More, reworked with great good humor in John Burningham's Mr. Gumpy's Outing and retold most notably in Audrey and Don Woods' Caldecott-winning The Napping House. Swenson's story has less literary pizazz but does have a pleasant rhyming text which takes on the issue of storm phobia, albeit with a main character for whom the thunder and lightning are the least of his worries.