If I Built a Car
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- ¥850
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE E.B. WHITE READ-ALOUD AWARD • The first book in the If I Built series kicks off with a young boy’s ideal wheels, from acclaimed author and illustrator Chris Van Dusen.
“Energetic verse and jubilant, action-packed artwork make this tale of a young inventor’s fantastic daydream a joy ride.”—Publishers Weekly
”My car will be cool! My car will be keen!
My car will be one big fantastic machine!”
Sitting in the back seat of his dad’s car, Jack begins to imagine all the ways he would improve the vehicle. After spending the night designing, tweaking, and refining, Jack is prepared to give an eye-opening tour of the car he'd like to build.
For starters, there's a snack bar, a pool, and even a robot named Robert to act as chauffeur. Plus, the motor releases fragrances of blueberry muffins and roses rather than gasoline. With Jack's soaring imagination in the driver's seat, readers will be deep-sea diving one minute and flying high above traffic the next in this whimsical, tantalizing take on the car of the future.
Packed with detailed illustrations recalling an era of classic American automobiles, bright colors, and an infectious rhythm, this wonderful read-aloud is a launch pad for imaginative fun.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rhyming couplets and illustrations in colors as shiny and sleek as the four wheels they celebrate present the musings of a boy growing up in the placid 1950s suburbs. As Jack, his father and the family dog drive by trim lawns and plastic pink flamingos in a red, wood-panelled station wagon (that "is OK," according to Jack, "Nothing great. Nothing grand"), the young hero regales his staid-looking father with a description of the car of his dreams. Next, Jack lies on a shag rug in his bedroom, an issue of Popular Science on the bedside table, as he studies his toy Wienermobile, the inspiration for his own "spectacular car" which, on the subsequent spread, seems to magically appear in the driveway. From there, the story takes off: Jack gives his amazed father and eager pooch a tour of his vehicle, showing off the "flush fender skirts and retractable wings," enclosed fireplace, swimming pool and snack-bar, and introduces the automated driver, Robert the Robot. The boy then takes his dad for a ride through the neighborhood and onto the lake ("The fenders will float like a catamaran") and underwater ("Just hit submerge!") before heading back to town, where a crowd of neighbors applauds. The finale returns readers to the opening scene, where a smiling Jack proudly tells his father, "If I built a car, that's just what I'd do." Energetic verse and jubilant, action-packed artwork make this tale of a young inventor's fantastic daydream a joy ride. Ages 3-up.
