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Here are a few transportation picture book favorites: 

Car, Car, Truck, Jeep 
Author: Katrina Charman
This book can be sung to the tune “Baa Baa Black Sheep” which is a great way to keep little learners engaged during story time. The illustrator was careful to also make the characters diverse.  For example there is a female pilot that flies the jumbo jet plane.

Little Tug
Author: Stephen Savage
If you have any boat lovers in your group this a good read.  The book is about a tugboat and what a tugboat does. You can use this book as a tool to teach your students about helpers and that they can be helpers too.

20 Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street 
Author: Mark Lee
A great transportation themed book that involves counting, rhyming,  and different types of vehicles. The main character comes up with an interesting solution to move the ice cream truck out of the way.

Freight Train 
Author: Donald Crews
This book is a classic.  Freight Train has vibrant illustrations, uses colors and bold shapes. Simple language, but it reinforces positional words like in, out, through and gone. Trains are a popular topic for young students and this book is very engaging.

Planes Go 
Author: Steve Light
This book is about the different sounds planes make.  If you really get animated and have fun making the sounds the children will too.   Steve Light has other vehicle books with the same theme, Cars Go and Trains Go too.

 Fast and Slow 
Author: Britta Teckentrup
This is a board book that has really simple language and bold illustrations.  It shows a picture of a type of vehicle on each page. The left side is a fast vehicle and the right side is a slow vehicle.  You can make it engaging by asking the students, “Which goes faster?”

…And because I couldn’t go with just 6 books, here’s a bonus…

 What do Wheels do all day? 
Author: April Jones Prince
This book covers all the different wheel uses and is a perfect fit in a transportation themed unit.  The author shares interesting examples of the use of wheels, like a merry go round. The illustrator creates pictures of people of all different ages and ethnicity. Your students will love guessing what the wheel word is describing, and also finding the wheeled items in each picture.

 To extend students learning from the books you read in class, here are some transportation themed resources.  Learn more here.