August 1, 2006
Gr. 3-5. Herzog's series of comprehensive alphabet books about sports for middle-graders--including " P Is for Putt: A Golf Alphabet " (2005)--grows with this title about auto racing that follows the same alphabet format. Each double-page spread uses a letter to introduce a wide variety of concepts, from the history of NASCAR and other races to engineering and equipment, rules of the road, and famous racers. The text works on multiple levels to draw in a wide age range. Each page includes a pair of rhyming couplets that will appeal to younger readers, while longer paragraphs delve into clearly stated specifics that will please fact-hungry middle-graders. The human figures and faces in Bready's paintings are sometimes stiffly rendered, but the scenes on the track deliver a palpable sense of the sport's excitement and speed. Try this with young reluctant readers. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)
January 1, 2007
Herzog shares interesting facts about popular drivers and famous racetracks in well-worded sidebars that are too sophisticated for the book's intended audience. The illustrations capture the sport's speed and the perspective of the driver, but they cannot compensate for the awkward rhythm and forced rhymes of the poems that make up the main text.
(Copyright 2007 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)