PreSchool-Grade 1—Kids will be
in the driver's seat, bonding with the hot-rod hamster as he sallies
forth into a bulldog's junkyard to put together his very own race car.
It's a dog's race, though, and children will sympathize with the small
creature's struggle to compete with bigger, gruffer opponents and cheer
him on to the finish line. Close-ups of the mud-streaked track in the
bold-stroked, textured acrylics allow readers to see the competition at
eye-level with the hamster (and axis-level with the other contenders).
But the action builds up even before the engines start, and young
readers will love helping the irrepressible hamster build his dream
car. Their hands will dart up immediately when they hear the refrain,
"Which one would you choose?" illustrated with comic-style
illustrations of the myriad choices of cars, tires, parts, and flames,
and they'll become hot-rod designers along with Hamster. If Bob Kolar's
Racer Dogs (Dutton) or Brian Floca's The Racecar Alphabet (S & S, both 2003) are worn, torn, and vroom-vroomed in your library, add this one to the lot.
—Sara Paulson-Yarovoy, American Sign Language and English Lower School PS 347, New York City
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Junior racing fans will get a vicarious thrill with this story of a
tiny driver who dares to burn rubber with the big boys. The story has
two halves: the construction of the hot rod and the big race. The
hamster—a tiny orange puffball usually found levitating with glee and
shouting stuff like “Now I’m ready to ROLL!”—begins at the local scrap
heap, where a junkyard dog (and his staff of rats) assists in
constructing the perfect racer. The rhyming scheme is consistent: “Old
car, new car, shiny painted blue car; / Rust car, clean car, itty-bitty
green car.” Then the text involves the reader: “Which would you
choose?” Usually the right answer can be sussed out; for example, that
green car is just the size for a three-inch-tall driver. Once wheeled
and oiled (and flame-painted, too), it’s off to the track, where the
racing rodent wins and then has to make the toughest choice of all:
which trophy to take. Anderson’s acrylics are boisterously large,
colorful, and off-kilter—just like his swaggering protagonist.
Preschool-Kindergarten.
--Daniel Kraus, Booklist
