Sarabeth's Garage
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Feb 10, 2026
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- $11.99
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- Pre-Order
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A picture book that celebrates doing your own thing in the face of society's expectations . . . and a sweet story about a girl, her dad, her disapproving grandma and, most importantly, cars.
Sarabeth loves cars.
She loves the way the engines sometimes roar like lions and other times purr like kittens. She loves seeing sports cars that are sleek and fast like cheetahs and boxy SUVs that trundle along like elephants.
And most of all, she loves to help her dad at his garage.
Sarabeth’s grandmother doesn’t approve. She thinks little girls should play with dolls and wear dresses and always have clean hands. But when her car starts grumbling like a walrus instead of purring like a kitten, who will be there to help?
A delightful story about an independent and spirited girl who has no time for the limitations that society wants to put on her, and a grandma who gets the opportunity to change her way of thinking.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sarabeth loves "the way engines sometimes roared like lions and other times purred like kittens," writes Florence (The One About the Blackbird) in this humane story about navigating ill-fitting norms. The child is fully at home in the garage owned by her adored father, around whom the "comforting smell of motor oil" lingers. Alam (Many Things at Once) captures the space with warm, accessible pencil and digital illustrations that bring to life its comfortable collegiality. But Sarabeth's scowling grandmother disapproves of her granddaughter's interests, asserting in a series of observations that "in my day," girls played with dolls, wore dresses rather than coveralls, and more. Without intervening, Sarabeth's parents make it clear that they trust their daughter's talents and path—trust that is validated when Grandma's car begins sounding like "an unhappy walrus" and Sarabeth returns it to purring status in a snap. "In my day, girls can do anything they want," Sarabeth declares, and Grandma happily embraces this new reality—a final image finds her in coveralls enjoying lunch at the garage, suggesting that even stalled relationships can be jump-started with understanding. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 3–7.
