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Summary
Summary
Stop!
What's Your Car I.Q.?
The fastest kind of car:
A. A jet-powered dragster
B. An invisible spy car
C. Any car that is red and has flames painted on the sides
Cars were invented by:
A. Karl Benz
B. Professor Flubber
C. Two horses in Ohio who got tired of carrying people around all day
Souped-up cars are made with what kind of soup?
A. Chicken noodle
B. Pea
C. No actual soup is used
Answers inside!
Author Notes
Tom Lichtenheld has illustrated several bestselling picture books, including One Big Pair of Underwear ; Shark vs. Train ; Duck! Rabbit! ; and Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site . He lives with his wife in Illinois. Visit him at TomLichtenheld.com.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-4-Like Lichtenheld's Everything I Know about Monsters (S & S, 2002), this pseudo-nonfiction book presents a wealth of made-up stuff. It's chock-full of fun fake facts about automobiles, such as "Red cars are the fastest kind" and horses invented cars (hence the term horsepower). Other sections focus on the history of motor travel (beginning with cavemen putting steering wheels on animals), how cars work ("the transmission-transmits; the suspension-suspends"), and how to be a passenger ("Your next duty is to test the power windows. Down. Up. Down"). The book ends with tips for kids on how to design and draw their own vehicles. The conversational text is plentiful, but is made less intimidating by the plethora of wacky cartoon illustrations. Using ink, colored pencil, gouache, and watercolor, Lichtenheld depicts everything from an ancient Egyptian dune buggy to a "Heli-Hat" to a detailed map of a family road trip. The illustrations and the narrative have just enough body and potty humor to amuse readers but not gross them out. The result is Mad Magazine, Jr. meets Auto Repair for Dummies. The mix of madcap illustrations, irreverent text, and kid-friendly humor is sure to attract even the most reluctant readers.-Catherine Callegari, San Antonio Public Library, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Having taught all that he could about Pirates and Monsters, author/artist Tom Lichtenheld now reveals Everything I Know About Cars: A Collection of Made-Up Facts, Educated Guesses, and Silly Pictures About Cars, Trucks, and Other Zoomy Things. The opening spread sets the tone: "This book will not explain why you have to ride round in a clunky old minivan while your best friend gets to zoom around... in a fancy red sports car." Beginning in the days when cavemen attempted to put steering wheels on animals, the author then imagines a future in which kids design the cars, showing a hotrod with a playroom on the second tier. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
This humorous look at cars covers the imagined invention and history of the motor vehicle, as well as different models, such as a mini-van with ""room for 37 kids."" The rest of the book offers advice, including surviving family road trips and instructions on how to draw your own goofy car. The cartoony art matches the droll tone of the text. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
"100% fact-free," but "Chock-a-block full of stuff!," this does for cars and car travel what Everything I Know About Pirates (2000) did for pirates--which is to say, puts a maniacally silly spin on every common myth, misconception, and factoid the over-caffeinated author can conjure up. Explaining that people have always "liked the idea of going fast while sitting on their butts," Lichtenheld introduces such historical figures as ahead-of-his-time Viking inventor Leif Spring; supplies a quick tour of automotive principles ("Some other car parts you should know about are the transmission, which transmits; the suspension, which suspends; and the pistons, which, well . . . they work real hard too"); teaches proper back-seat "passenger duties"; and finally, offers a few useful pointers on drawing nifty imaginary cars. Replete with appropriately daffy cartoon illustrations, here's a gassed-up laff-fest that will keep readers roaring back for more. (Picture book. 7-9) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 2-4. Lichtenheld, the author of other witty compendiums such as Everything I Know about Pirates 0 (2000), takes a similarly wacky approach to cars. Although the book is classified as nonfiction, the author claims expertise on made-up 0 cars, not real ones, so readers will learn, for instance, that two horses (Winnie and Nay) in Ohio invented the first car in 1904. The section on how a car works reads like a test paper by a student who is totally unprepared, but still game: "Some other car parts you should know about are the transmission, which transmits; the suspension, which suspends; and the pistons, which, well . . . they work real hard too." Just as funny and accessible as the text are the colorful, cartoon-style illustrations with their helpful and amusing labels. Some kids will giggle through the whole book, and few will read it without cracking up at least once or twice. With an eye-catching jacket and a terrific section on how to draw a car, this large-format book has something for everyone (except maybe someone who actually wants to know about cars). --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2005 Booklist
