Cars Galore by Peter Stein
Illustrated by Bob Staake
Genre: Children’s Board Book
Ages 4 to 8, Grades P to 3
Pages: 30 Board Book
Date Published: October 9, 2012
Publisher: Candlewick Press

Buckle up for an exuberant ride humming with energetic rhymes and whimsical, retro art from a masterful team.

Black car, green car,
nice car, mean car.
Near car, far car.
Whoa! Bizarre car!

Ready to hit the road? Gear up for a nonstop parade of shapes, sizes, sounds, and even smells in a wild array of cars packed with big personalities, awesome features, and eccentric passengers. Driven by Peter Stein’s bouncing verse, Bob Staake’s high-powered artwork merges vibrant color and crisp, dynamic design with humor, warmth, and whimsy. This rousing excursion is sure to thrill all fans of things that go, as well as aficionados of the illustrator’s signature style.

This is one fun and funky board book! A board book version of the original release from early 2011 it is definitely one to have on hand. It fits in really well with our preschool stuff right along with the rhythm and rhyme of Go, Dog, Go! and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and all those other fun and ridiculously silly reads. The illustrations are definitely where the funky comes in my opinion but it is a good way. There is plenty to stare at and in our reading, my preschooler was sure to point things out on every page. I think this is one that you could read again and again and find something new each and every time.

*Thanks to Candlewick Press for providing a copy for review.*

Peter Stein has been a highly successful writer, editor, designer, and art director for more than twenty years. He is the author of seven gift books, including Age Is Nothing, Attitude Is Everything and Fine Friends: A Little Book About You and Me. He lives in Petaluma, California.

Bob Staake has authored and/or illustrated more than forty-two books, including The Red Lemon, a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year. His work has graced the cover of The New Yorker a dozen times, and his November 17, 2008 Barack Obama victory cover was named Best Magazine Cover of the Year by Time magazine. He lives on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts.