Little Toot is a tugboat. His father, Big Toot, is the biggest and fastest tug on the river. And Grandfather Toot is a real old salt, too old now to do much work, but full of tall tales about the time when he did. You'd think that with such a family, Little Toot would have his work cut out for him. But not at all. Little Toot just wanted to play. To make fancy figure 8's in the quiet waters up river, and thread-the-needle around the docks, and play tag with the big liners that came and went on the tides.

The funny thing is that little Toot got away with it—or did, until he ran afoul of J. G. McGillicuddy, who had no love for frivolous little tugboats. It was a ruinous meeting for Little Toot. Disgraced, he fled the scene of his shame. He tried to reform his ways, but the other boats would have nothing to do with a fun-loving tug—life is real, life is earnest! Weeping salt tears, Little Toot crept down the river. The sky darkened. The sea rose. And against a thunderhead climbed a signal rocket...

Well, there's no use going into that here. When the test came, Little Toot showed the stuff of heroes. Now, we don't want to seem overenthusiastic, but we're pretty proud of Little Toot; and our private opinion is that when the annals of the sea are finally completed Little Toot will be as celebrated as the Queen Mary, the Bounty, the Santa Maria, and the Mayflower all together. 

Hardie Gramarky, the writer-illustrator, is himself almost as surprising as Little Toot. For six years he was an animator under the famous Walt Disney, drawing Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie, and a fabulous Hollywood salary besides. Mr. Gramarky wanted something more than that. He quite Hollywood and came to New York to be a creative artist. He had his first one-man exhibition in New York last fall, and his water colors in Fortune have created a lot of comment. As for Little Toot:

"My studio overlooks the East River," Mr. Gramatky reports, "and when my eyes tire, I like to l look out on the river and watch the boats. The tugs have always fascinated me. Some are gay and aimless, other grim and purposeful. And watching them, I thought how much they were like people. So I began to sketch them; the first thing I knew, there was the story you will find in this book."

From the dust jacket