Review by Booklist Review
This "little tractor that could" sort of tale pays tribute to the iconic Rosie the Riveter persona from the U.S. and the British Land Girls of the Women's Land Army during WWII. Built in an American factory and then shipped overseas, a small green tractor with anthropomorphic features and a rose painted on its brow gets to work: "I plow and I dig. / I dig and I plow. / No matter the job, / this is my vow." Not even the shadows of bombers passing overhead halts the heavy labor of the tractor or the crews of women working alongside. The work continues after victory, until the battered tractor breaks down, is hauled into a barn--and emerges refreshed, with rubber tires to replace the steel ones and a shiny new coat of paint. In a gratifyingly frank and detailed afterword (supported by photos and a reading list), Ward explains how similar tractors were sent as part of the Lend-Lease Act and how women kept many factories and farms operating during the war--though, on the American side, only some workforces were as racially integrated as she illustrates them in her cut-out paper collage scenes. Fans of Loren Long's Otis, Virginia Lee Burton's Katy, and like sturdy, dependable workhorses will welcome Rosie into the fold, but the historical perspective adds an unusual dimension to her story.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ward (This Book Is Gray) emphasizes the role that many women played during WWII in this cadenced story narrated by a big-eyed emerald tractor christened Rosie. The scene is established with newspaper headlines: "World at War," "Ford to Produce 10,000 Tractors," "Women Head to Work." From there, Rosie begins her narrative, taking readers from the scrap metal out of which she was fashioned to the factory floor on which she was welded by a cheerful, multiethnic crew of women singing: "This is our Rosie./ Stronger than steel." Rosie next travels to an overgrown farm in England, where she works beside "brave Land Girls" beneath the shadow of enemy planes. Surrounded by music notes cut from sheet music, long-lashed Rosie smilingly repeats throughout: "I plow and I dig. /I dig and I plow./ No matter the job,/ this is my vow." Even after headlines declare "Victory," Rosie continues to work in the fields. If the war feels distant in Ward's brightly abundant scenes of women at work, bright mixed-media art lends the book an appropriate air of nostalgia. An author's note and timeline offer historic details. Ages 4--8. (Apr.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2--Ward's ("Dexter T. Rexter" series) tale is inspired by women in World War II who helped manufacture farm equipment and farmed land to supply food to the troops. Rosie the tractor relates her tale from creation in a factory to a Land Girls' farm where one of the workers paints a rose on her green front. After scads of crops result from tough work, the war ends. Rosie teaches young tractors to plow until "a bang and a growl, In a puff of black smoke there I was stuck." A farmer tinkers, bringing her back with real rubber tires and new a paint job, including an enormous rose that looks like the original has blossomed. The story ends with people in a gallery honoring World War II farmers, including a photo of Rosie. Vocabulary is rich, and the younger set will appreciate the intermittent rhymes. The style of Ward's colored pencil and cut-paper illustrations reflect the period of the tale. VERDICT This historical fiction tale will serve better in a unit or lesson plan on women's history theme than one on transportation.--Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Cross-cultural feminist history goes down easy in this kid-friendly story.Factual details about female factory workers in the United States and the Women's Land Army in England merge in this fictional tale of a sunny little tractor. When readers first meet Rosie, she's being constructed by racially diverse Rosie the Riveter-esque women in response to FDR's Lend-Lease Act. Built with care, the tractor receives a final rose painted on her nose and then she's shipped off to England. There, women tend the fields while the men fight in World War II. Rosie is determined to do her part, repeating, "I plow and I dig. / I dig and I plow. / No matter the job, / this is my vow." The war ends but not her purposethere's a happy ending in store for the little tractor that could. Ample backmatter tells the true story behind tractors like Rosie. Children too small to appreciate Ward's deft melding of history and storytelling will still find much to enjoy thanks to the copious mechanics, repeated rhymes, and a tractor to rival Mike Mulligan's Mary Anne in terms of sheer on-the-job enthusiasm. Ward's art simultaneously anthropomorphizes Rosie and gives a sense of authenticity to her human figures. More than the sum of its parts, this is a wildly successful and well-researched shaping of the picture-book form to true historical sheroes.They could do it! (author's note, timeline, sources) (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
