09/08/2023
By Kate Stone Lombardi
My little granddaughter has several favorite books she wants to hear over and over, including such scintillating titles as “Cars and Trucks” and “Giant Work Machines.” This is the same little girl who likes to scoot backwards in the bathtub, saying “Beep! Beep! Beep!” to indicate that she is a “big truck” backing up.
But nothing has captured her recent attention more than “Big Dan’s Moving Van.” The book tells the story of a family that is moving from New York to California, and illustrates the process from start to finish. Any book that you read to a toddler say, oh, eight times in a row, gets tedious. But “Big Dan” also fills me with dread.
Soon our own movers will be arriving to load their van. The house is in a half-dressed state – packed boxes stuffed in closets and in the basement, empty drawers in some rooms; packed cabinets in others.
All the books our granddaughter enjoys at our home used to belong to her Uncle Paul. But I may have to send “Big Dan’s Moving Van” packing to her house. It hits just a little too close to home right now.