August 15, 2018
Fishes of the sea, birds of the air, and critters of the land unite around a single belief: Their cars rock!Even struggling readers will be challenged to find anything at all difficult in this latest entry in the I Like to Read series. It certainly won't be the writing, as all pages contain only the words "I like my...car," the sole textual variation being the color of each vehicle and a single "too." Nor will they tussle with the plot, such as it is. As readers watch, a series of jaunty animals, each tucked snug behind the wheel of their conveyances (the sole exception being the chauffeured poodle in a limo), declares their fondness for their autos. Saving the book from utter innocuousness is its 1950s-vibed art. The endpapers sport such snazzy accoutrements as fuzzy dice; the style of each car is apt and distinctive; subtle in-jokes (a turtle applies a coat of wax; a pine-shaped air freshener dangles from the shark's rearview mirror) abound. With each detail, Robertson's mix of digital and physical art (including an etching press, water-based printing inks, and an onion bag) pays off. As they should, these drivers revel in their cars' flashy, colorful looks, and they are set against some seriously mod backdrops. Though it's not groundbreaking, this book is bound to please beginning readers with automotive fixations and patience for no more than six words to a page. (Picture book/early reader. 3-6)
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October 1, 2018
PreS-Gr 1-With illustrations perfectly matched to the text, this series entry introduces beginning readers to short, easily identifiable words and colors. Each turn of the page introduces a new color word into the title sentence: "I like my (blue) car." Readers travel from one page to the next, down the "road" to see each appropriately hued, patterned, and decorated vehicles of nine cartoon, anthropomorphic characters-for example, a rhinoceros drives a red car with a horned hood ornament, a giraffe sits at the wheel of a spotted yellow car, a shark flashes a grin within the watery interior of a finned black car, a crocodile holds the wheel on a green car with a sharp, toothy grill, and a cheetah rules the road in a spotted purple coupe with yet more spots on the dice above his head. This colorful work for the very youngest of independent readers may encourage confidence in identification of words and word patterns through its eye-catching illustrations and text repetition. VERDICT A suggested general purchase.-Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano ISD, TX
Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
October 15, 2018
Preschool I like my purple car, says a leopard driving a violet roadster with deeper magenta spots. Every car in this cheerful book is clearly its owner's pride and joy, and each animal expresses its satisfaction in the same brief sentence, changing only the word describing its vehicle's color. A turtle looks snug behind the wheel of a little green car with a domed roof suggesting its curved shell, while a shark drives a black sports car with a sharp-toothed grill and stylish fins, and a cat chauffeurs a poodle in a pink stretch limousine. Big, bold shapes create vehicles and settings in the digital pictures, while line is used effectively to define characters and details. The last two double-page spreads bring all the vehicles together in bustling scenes that many kids will find absorbing. Picture books about cars and trucks abound, but this one has several things going for it: a brief, cohesive text along with clear, colorful illustrations and a sense of fun. These qualities make it just right for the youngest car-loving children.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)
January 1, 2019
A series of smiling animals each rides in a different-colored car: I like my red car, says a rhino in a compact; I like my yellow car, says a giraffe, neck sticking out of a roadsters sunroof. Clear illustrations lead all the creatures to a car-wash party, complete with rabbit DJ. The easy reader's picture-book format, very simple patterned text, and high-interest topics are all kid-pleasers.
(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)