5 picture books featuring unusual modes of transport

When I was putting Duck Delivers together, I didn’t really think about vehicles or modes of transport initially. The story is just about a hapless duck trying to deliver a parcel. 

Then I thought, ​“Oh, he needs a mode of transport to deliver the parcel.” A car or a van was a bit obvious. So I plumped for a micro scooter, just because I thought it would be funny. Only then it occurred to me that the scooter was such an integral part of the story and had become a bit of a character itself in the book. 

So I have put together a list of my favourite picture books that feature vehicles, modes of transport, or unusual methods of getting about! 

This absolute classic is the story of a boy who just wants a star to call his very own. He imagines all the ways he will catch one – with a lasso, waiting for one to fall out of the sky, or by going up in his rocket to try and catch one.

I love this book. It is deceptively simple but, like most of Oliver Jeffers’ books, it is a story about embracing imagination and holding on to dreams.

The classic rocket design has now become synonymous with Jeffers’s work, popping up in lots of his other books too. I hope one day Duck can deliver something in a rocket… watch this space. 

This is a bit of a cheat but surely a dragon counts as a mode of transport…? 

This a lovely and funny rhyming text from Anna Kemp about a princess who does everything a princess isn’t supposed to do. 

She is rescued from her castle by a brave prince, only to be put in another castle and told to be a princess. But this bores her and she decides to befriend a dragon. They then accidentally blow up the castle and go and have their own adventure together. 

The text scans really well, which not all rhyming texts do successfully, and the illustrations are absolutely brilliant. Sara Ogilvie’s art and character design is just a thing to behold. I pick up her work whenever I need a hit of inspiration. 

This is a brilliant book about teamwork… and massive loaves of bread! 

I used to read this to my kids all the time. It’s the story of a village that makes a giant jam sandwich to trap the swarm of wasps that is plaguing their homes. 

Of course, when you make giant loaves and huge sandwiches, how are you going to lug all that bread about? With helicopters, of course! 

The townsfolk hold the top slice of bread above the jammed slice and wait for the wasp swarm to land in the jam so they can drop the slice and trap them all. 

This is a really fun book that sparks loads of conversations about which food would be best if it was giant (pizza is, of course, the correct answer).

This modern classic is a lovely story about fathers and sons. Again, a slightly unconventional mode of transport is featured in this book – it is, of course, Dad’s shoulders! 

When a young boy finds being small a bit overwhelming, he asks to go up on his dad’s shoulders to experience the world up high. 

This story takes me right back to my childhood. I was never a fan of walking anywhere and Dad’s shoulders were always my preferred option of travel. When I became a father, I couldn’t wait to carry my kids on my shoulders, until you find out that it is really tiring! I don’t know how my dad did it. 

Matt Hunt’s artwork is stunning; he’s another illustrator I always turn to for inspiration. 

This is such a charming book. I think Monsieur Roscoe has a lot in common with Duck – both are a bit clumsy and accident-prone but mean well. 

This has the added bonus of being a bilingual book, with various words and phrases in both English and French. It follows Roscoe as he makes his way around France for his holidays. It features bikes and cars galore! They are all rendered in wonderful detail and colour by the master – Jim Field. 

I am always amazed by illustrators that choose to have bicycles feature so heavily in their work, only because bikes are such a pain to draw! Hats off, Jim. 

Duck Delivers by Tom Tinn-Disbury is out now.