Riding in My Car

Description

Riding in My Car (words by Woody Guthrie), illustrated by Scott Menchin, is a very hands-on, animated book centered around a family of dogs traveling across the United States. The book is designed with pop-up characters and features, and the reader will be able to “touch” the characters, open the doors, manipulate fishing poles, etc. as the family goes fishing throughout their travels.

The content of Riding in My Car centers around fun facts about the United States. The book is very colorful, and the main script is very easy to read, and includes the sounds of cars running, boats chugging and trucks blowing. These sounds should appeal to very young readers.

I read Riding in My Car to my grandchildren, both age two, and I quickly discovered that the pop-out characters really appealed to them in a “touchy way.” They both attempted to pull the characters out of the book! I do believe this issue will be challenging for readers who read to young children, as the children won’t comprehend that the characters should stay on the pages of the book.

The content itself was very childlike, the print large and the words written for the very young to understand. However, the pop-up “facts” – frequently found under flaps throughout the book – seemed to be written straight out of an encyclopedia, and designed for a much older reader.

I quickly learned that the pop-up “facts” would not hold the attention of my much-younger audience. However, although older readers would understand them better, they may not be interested in choosing this book, which is designed for babies.

I did enjoy the animations and hands-on characters, and would recommend this book to much younger readers, but only if they are sitting on Grandma’s lap!

Hope this book review helps!

Until next time,
GiGi