Truckers: The First Book Of The Nomes (2015) - Plot & Excerpts
This was one of the funniest books I've read lately. The nomes are so funny as they learn and interact with human world. Indeed it is children literature, but of great quality and one type of story that adults can enjoy as well.The premise in children literature is usually formed of the ethical concepts children could learn by reading it. In this first novel of the trilogy, these are helping others, learning to cooperate for a common goal and learning new things. But apart from these, there are also some parts of the novel that might lead to not so good values and principles in children. For example, stealing is presented as acceptable if nomes are taking from humans or the mysticism and misogynist in inside nomes society. Of course, they are not the focus, but because some children might pick them up instead of the other, my rating is 2 for premise.Regarding the form, the humor of the situations the nomes have to deal with is excellent. Also the length of the novel is quite enough for middle school kids. Lastly, the characters are vivid and well made, thus I will rate it with a 5 for form.In terms of originality, there is a mention about Gulliver's Travels there, but the story is one of the most original I have come across. Of course the fantasy genre allows many things in terms of originality. I liked especially the creativity the nomes had in inventing concepts regarding signs they saw in the store. So I will give it a 5 for the level of originality.The characters, I already mentioned, are very well made. There are some stereotypes present in most adventure stories, but they are not so bothering. So I'll rate it with a 4.Regarding the complexity and difficulty, as the nomes world is created for the novel, there are some degrees of complexity as the author needs to present that society in some details. But it is not exaggerating and keeps it to a minimum. The difficulty is also minimized to the maximum extent in order to keep the story coherent. Thus, I will rate it then with a 4 for complexity and difficulty.In terms of credibility, just referring to the invented world, in itself it is more or less consistent. There are slight discrepancies but the usual kid will ignore them. My rating for credibility is then 4.The last criteria is edition. My translated ebook has some (few) words misspelled, obviously not corrected at proof reading. But overall it was a nice and easy lecture. I will rate it with a 3.To summarize, I enjoyed a lot this fantasy/children novel and I am waiting eagerly to read the remaining two novels from the trilogy. All in all, my final rating for it is 3.86, which I will round it to 4 on Goodreads system.+--------------------------+-----------------+| Criteria | Rating |+--------------------------+-----------------+|Premise | 2 |+--------------------------+-----------------+|Form | 5 |+--------------------------+-----------------+|Originality | 5 |+--------------------------+-----------------+|Characters | 4 |+--------------------------+-----------------+|Difficulty/Complexity | 4 |+--------------------------+-----------------+|Credibility | 4 |+--------------------------+-----------------+|Edition | 3 |+--------------------------+-----------------+|Total | 3.86 |+--------------------------+-----------------+For more details on how I rated and reviewed this novel, please read these guidelines.
Loved it! Really clever and funny and thoughtful. Full review to come.Truckers by Terry Pratchett is the first book in the Bromeliad trilogy aimed at children focusing on nomes. It was first published in 1989 and has recently been repackaged into this brightly coloured edition with lovely cover and accompanying illustrations by Mark Beech. I had a lot of fun with Truckers. I knew very little about the book before I began - only that it is a children's book and that it is not Discworld-related. And this book was a very fun surprise and there was much to find interesting and amusing, especially coming to this book as an adult reader. There is so much humour and thoughtfulness in Terry Pratchett's writing and in his stories. Trucker is the story of nomes, these little creatures only 4 inches tall that live in places that humans do only without the humans knowing. Truckers follows Masklin and his small band of other nomes who have been living Outside and have left to explore, carrying along an important artifact called The Thing. They stumble across this huge colony of nomes living in a department store and at first there are some clashes between the two sets of nomes but they eventually band together after learning that there is very little time before the store closes down for good. I can't say that Truckers has the biggest amount of plot ever. And while there are this core group of nomes that become influential in organising the knowledge and materials required for this mass exodus from the store, they aren't that well-developed, aside from perhaps Masklin. Perhaps that changes throughout the the two other books in the trilogy though? I'm not sure. I mention this, but it also didn't particularly make that much of a difference to my enjoyment of the novel! What it does do though is have is a wonderful mix of humour with very clever and interesting ideas. I'm sure some children might read this story and enjoy it for what it is: a funny, adventurous story of a collection of nomes working together towards a common goal. But there is also this other layer to the story in which Terry Pratchett explores topics such as gender and leadership and belief systems and language in really thoughtful and interesting ways. These subtle explorations of really big ideas is the real draw to this story for me. I've read other books in which Terry Pratchett points out some of the confusing (and therefore hilarious) elements to the English language and in Truckers he again pulls this off beautifully. There was a scene towards the end involving the highway code and road signs that actually made me howl with laughter. And there's also a bit about gender and outdated ideas about women and education and it was lovely to see Grimma's transformation as she begins to read and plays a large part in moving the nomes towards their ultimate goals. Other scenes bring up the importance of faith and also challenging long-held belief systems and there are other characters who champion knowledge and literacy and it all just made me happy. That there is such an intelligent and thought-provoking book. For children. Truckers by Terry Pratchett was a really fun and worthwhile read. It was clever and funny and I do very highly recommend it!
What do You think about Truckers: The First Book Of The Nomes (2015)?
I received a free copy of the book by the book's publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.Truckers tells the untold story of the Nomes, who are only about 4 inches tall! The Nomes live inside a department store and its walls are to them the boundaries of the world. However, everything they know is turned upside down when Nomes arrive from outside the store...Another brilliant Pratchett book, which is as to be expected. However, it's not one of my absolute favourites of his. The concept is magical but, unfortunately at times I found it not as engaging as his other books. A definitely laugh and a great idea but the majority of his character's seem a little 2D. As a result, I don't think I want to read the rest of this series but did enjoy the first of the series.
—Anna (BooksandBookends)
It took me a while to read this as there were a few days when I was just so busy I didn’t have a chance to pick it up! But, I loved it!I love Terry Pratchett anyway, he makes me laugh, makes me think and makes me not want to put his books down. I was slightly worried that as this book was written for children, I may not appreciate it as much as his books for adults, but I was wrong, it was great. I remember when these were published and when the TV series was on, but at this point ( I think I was about 7-8) my dad had started reading Mort to us, so I dismissed these as too childish and started on the Discworld.Truckers is about little people called Nomes, and Masklin in particular. Their little community are being forced to find somewhere to go as their numbers are dwindling and their lives are hard. They are eating rat and living in fear of different things in the “outside” that will kill them. Masklin decides to get them all to escape on a truck to find a better life.In the first few chapters he manages to get the Nomes to escape and they come to a place where there are thousands of other Nomes… a large department store. Here they try to convince the other Nomes not only that there is an outside, but also that the store they are in is closing and being demolished and they have to move.The Nomes take instruction from the thing – a black box that seems like an inanimate object… at first. As the book goes on, we learn more about the thing, and the origin of the Nomes, and where they need to go.I love the Nomes different thoughts and explanations for different aspects of life, and their dismissal of Humans as dimwitted slow creatures. This book has all the wit of the other Terry Pratchett books, and I forgot I was reading a children’s book. That’s not to say that the book would not be good for kids, it is fantastically well written. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next two books in the series, and to go back and re-read some more Pratchett – a fantastic author.
—Laura Fudge
'Do you not even remember that you are shipwrecked?''I'm Masklin,' said Masklin. 'I don't know who shipwrecked is.'Masklin is one of a dozen four inch high "nomes" that have finally had enough of foxes, rain and having to eat cold chips thrown away at a nearby motorway cafe. In a desperate plan they stow away on a lorry and end up in a new world: "Thestore".Thestore has its own nomes, its own problems, and also electricity, which when combined with the tribe's mascot "The Thing" produces some very disturbing results. The Thing tells Masklin that nomes were shipwrecked on earth a very long time ago and had to find corners of the world to live in - but nowadays the world is running out of corners. Nomes inside Thestore don't believe in old fashioned myths like rain, the sun or the outside, and they certainly don't think that Masklin came from a place so exotic. So when The Thing tells Masklin that Thestore is about to be demolished Masklin must mastermind an escape plan and convince all the nomes that both he and the outside not only exist, but are the only hope the nomes have.Truckers paints a vivid picture of life at four inches tall; it is not too great a leap for children to connect the humans in the story - big, slow, and perceived to be dull and drab - with many adults they see around them. The book would great read out loud to a group of children as it is full of surprises, twists, and characters that you care about quickly. Terry Pratchett's marvellous Discworld novels often overshadow his work for younger readers, but I think this is a fantastic story for children; funny, witty, full of depth and with the message that with some effort and teamwork anything is achievable.
—Jim Leech
