Our Car

by J.M. Brum, Jan Bajtlik (Illustrator)

Overview

There's nothing better than taking a drive in Dad's car.

Join our protagonist and his dad as they go to the carwash, drive through a rainstorm, are tickled by the wind, and more in this bold and sweet story of a boy, his dad, and their car.

From graphic artist Jan Bajtlik comes a vibrant and simple tale with surprising heart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250219305
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	08/21/2018
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

J. M. Brum is the author of Our Car. When not writing children's books, she is an expert mechanic. She lives in Warsaw, Poland.


Jan Bajtlik is a graphic artist who currently lives in Warsaw, Poland. His books include the award-winning Alphadoodler and his work has appeared in The New York Times and Courrier International.

Editorial Reviews

Our Car has little interest in the actual mechanics of automobiles, yet it cuts, joyfully, straight to the things that thrill about cars; the book is a distilled dose of speed and color.

The New York Times Book Review - Brian Floca

"A playful visual twist sets this apart from other car vocabulary books."—Kirkus

From the Publisher

2018-05-23
A child describes the family vehicle in this simple, colorful introduction to cars imported from Poland.On the front cover, a small figure in a lime-green shirt leans over the back of a convertible, holding a string that extends over the book's spine to the back cover, where it's tied to a lime-green balloon bearing the words "What is your car like?" The young balloon-holder sets out to model an answer to that very question, the art using bold colors and simple, evocative shapes (in what appear to be chalk or oil pastel) to share basic car-related concepts, including maintenance and driving protocol. Each spread puts one vocabulary word (rendered in exaggeratedly large, black letters in the hand-lettered text) in context: "Sometimes, the engine screeches like a wild animal. / Then the mechanic has to take a look…." The illustrations whimsically support this, as the hood morphs subtly to resemble the open, toothed jaws of a ferocious beast. Carefully considered formatting and design also support the narrative: The landscape format echoes the car's shape, and the illustrations at times wink at their own construction—a smear of pigment represents the car moving through wind, and white lines resembling eraser marks appear on the car when the family washes it. All human figures throughout the book are the same shade of hot pink and wear fairly gender-ambiguous clothing; the child's father is the only person explicitly referred to by gendered pronouns in the text.A playful visual twist sets this apart from other car vocabulary books. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews