We may all be having problems filling up our gas tanks without mortgaging our houses, but transportation still fills up the minds of our young with excitement and wonder. Here is a list of some outstanding new books about vehicles both large and small — for kids both tall and small.

Let's begin with trucks. They seem to fill the youngster's imagination because there are so many different types and sizes rolling along the highways. Trucks Roll!, by George Ella Lyon, and illustrated by Craig Frazier, celebrates the big rigs that carry everything from animals to food. The fun rhyming text brings about a sort of rolling rhythm as their wheels roll across the continent.

Night Shift, written and illustrated by Jessie Hartland, demonstrates the hardworking people who work nights on their vehicles while the world sleeps. Some examples include the street sweeper, freighter captain and road worker.

Mega Trucks: The Biggest, Toughest Trucks in the World!, published by Scholastic, has a variety of huge trucks that will amaze a youngster. There are giant dump trucks, huge bulldozers and monster trucks and many more. This oversized book is easy to read and there are even small items to locate on some of the huge trucks that kids will love to find over and over again.

Trucks Go Pop!, by Bob Staake, is a magically engineered book with pop-outs galore. There are snow trucks and garbage trucks and digging trucks and more. There's even a large fold-out poster map that enables youngsters to push their own trucks.

Roadwork, by Sally Sutton, and brightly illustrated by Brian Lovelock, is a splash of color that fills each page as trucks get roads ready for travel. This book will undoubtedly give a child much insight, from the planning and surveying of the land to the actual paving and smoothing of the surface. There's also information located at the back about the trucks used to make roads.

Truck Driver Tom, written and illustrated by Monica Wellington, is a simple story of Tom, a truck driver, as he drives his tractor-trailer loaded with fresh produce through towns, cities and rural areas. There are many other vehicles that he sees along his route and at the back of the book, you are asked to locate them.

Wake Up Engines, by Denise Dowling Mortensen, and illustrated by Melissa Iwai, has a young boy waking up to the sounds of cars leaving the neighborhood, school buses driving past and airplanes flying overhead. As he hears the sounds of these many different engines, he imitates the sounds and pretends he's driving or flying as he plays inside his home. The simple, yet catchy, text rhymes with the roar of these engines.

Little Blue Truck, by Alice Schertle, and illustrated by Jill McElmurry, is a story about how it matters not how small something is to have value. Little Blue Truck is riding along with his animal friends when a large dump truck drives by and says he doesn't have time “to pass the day with every duck along the way! ” But this large and self-centered truck is about to learn a lesson in life.

The next four books have a simple text with a fun or interesting storyline. Duck in the Truck, by Jez Alborough, is a clever rhyming story about duck getting help from animal friends as he attempts to get his truck unstuck. Scholastic First Discovery: Cars and Trucks and Other Vehicles is a delightful look at many different kinds of cars, buses and trucks. The “First Discovery” series has clear plastic pages enabling a view from inside the vehicle.

On the Road, by Wade Cooper, is a Level 1 Scholastic Reader. The photos, descriptions and text of each vehicle are simple and fun for new readers to enjoy. Beep Beep, by Petr Horacek, is a smallish size board book with the typical die cut-outs and brilliant colors from this award winning author/illustrator.

The rest of the books are about fire engines, boats, planes and trains. Flight: A Pop-Up Book of Aircraft, by Robert Crowther, is a journey about airline travel through pop-ups, pull-tabs and lift-ups. This book is made for the young pilot. Five Little Firefighters, written and illustrated by Tom Graham, shows the life of five firefighters as they are about to eat dinner in the firehouse. Suddenly their alarm rings and they rush to a house fire and save a family. Then they can go back and finish their dinner.

Toy Boat, by Randall de Seve, and beautifully illustrated by Loren Long, is a sweet story about a boy and his homemade boat. When the boat suddenly comes loose in the ocean, adventures beset it.

Choo Choo, by Petr Horacek, is another small board book with his die cut pictures celebrating train travel through tunnels and over mountains. Peek-a-Choo-Choo! , by Marie Torres Cimarusti, and illustrated by Stephanie Peterson, is a clever train book with lift-flaps to discover what vehicles are hiding behind the flaps.

And the Train Goes…, by William Bee, displays trains from yesteryear with the sounds and sights of the glory days of the train and railroad travel. Turn the book over to find the complete reverse picture of the front. Clever!