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Truckers

Truckers

FantasyYoung Adult
Pages
209
Published
2004
Language
English

Synopsis

Four inches tall, the Nomes have been living in a department store for so many generations that most of them believe the Store is the entire universe and Arnold Bros (est. 1905) is God. When a group of Nomes from Outside arrives with news that the Store is about to be demolished, Masklin — a Nome who has lived in the harsh Outside world — must challenge everything his people believe in order to save them. The first novel in the Bromeliad Trilogy, a story about the difficulty of changing minds that have never had to change.

Prose complexity
2/10

Vibe

FunnyThought-ProvokingAdventurousSatirical
Chosen OneFound FamilyFish Out of WaterComing of AgeReluctant Hero

Genres

Fantasy Young Adult Humor Science Fiction

About the author

T
Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) was an English author best known for the Discworld series, a sequence of forty-one comic fantasy novels set on a flat world carried through space on the backs of four elephants standing on a giant turtle. Across four decades, the Discworld grew from a parody of sword-and-sorcery fantasy into one of the most sustained works of social satire in English literature, examining politics, religion, science, gender, race, capitalism, and the nature of stories themselves. Pra...

Characters

MasklinProtagonist

A Nome from Outside who has lived by his wits in the real world and now faces the task of making his people believe in a reality larger than the Store.

GrimmaSupporting

A young Nome who learns to read and becomes one of the most important members of the group — though the society around her does not always agree.

AngaloSupporting

A Nome fascinated by the Store's mechanical world, who becomes essential to the plan of escape.

All characters in Truckers

Frequently asked questions

  • What is the Bromeliad Trilogy?

    A trilogy of children's novels by Terry Pratchett comprising Truckers (1989), Diggers (1990), and Wings (1990). The novels follow a species of tiny people called Nomes and are not connected to the Discworld.

  • Is Truckers part of the Discworld?

    No. Truckers is entirely separate from the Discworld. It is the first novel of the Bromeliad Trilogy, a standalone science fiction comedy for children.

  • What inspired the Nomes?

    Pratchett described the Nomes as inspired by a concept of what might happen if a tiny species had been living among humans, dependent on human infrastructure, and had developed an entirely human-derived religion and mythology around it.

  • What age group is Truckers written for?

    Middle grade — roughly 8–12. The novels are shorter and more directly plotted than the adult Discworld, though Pratchett's satirical wit is fully present.