Grandma Drove the Lobsterboat

K-Gr 2–The gang from Grandma Drove the Garbage Truck (2006) and Grandma Drove the Snowplow (2010, both Down East), including the various cats and dogs, is back. While helping her sons get lobsters for the annual Labor Day bake, things don’t go exactly as planned for Grandma and and her youngest son, Little Billy. They’re out on the foggy, choppy water collecting lobsters when he becomes seasick. Grandma’s other sons are unable to help as they are dealing with their own boating problems. No worries though: If Grandma can drive the garbage truck and the snowplow, why not the lobster boat? Her glasses are fogged up, so Little Billy acts as her eyes as she drives the boat at full throttle back to the dock. After a few near misses with a buoy, some rocks, and the dock itself, she arrives at the mainland with all her sons in tow plus the crustaceans. The Labor Day Lobster Bake is saved. Huntington’s illustrations aptly depict the setting and characters and include plenty of entertaining details, though the live lobsters are a bit overly red and Grandma appears to have been dieting since she drove the snowplow. Good for individual sharing or for a Grandma-centric storytime.–Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH