Cars Galore

by Peter Stein, Peter Stein

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.

Genres: Picture Books, Transport, Childrens, Cars, Storytime, Poetry, Juvenile

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 22, 2011

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun book! Lots of repetition (almost Seussian, think The Foot Book) and rhyme. Bright, interesting illustrations support the text and give readers a lot to look at, especially in subsequent readings. This would be a fun storytime read, it oozes with enthusiasm and excitement!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cars Galore by Peter Stein, illustrated by Bob Staake, is a high-energy parade of real, bizarre, and imagined cars.

Staake's bright, stylized illustrations have a retro look along with humor and whimsy. Some very silly and eccentric cars are featured. My favorite images are has-it-all car, fun-filled fort car, music cars, hundred-feet car, and take-a-trip car.

Stein's rhyming text should keep readers turning the pages. Some of the cars could be hard to locate, so I would pre-read this and possibly point to the cars as they are mentioned to make things clearer for young listeners. This should please younger listeners, and be fun for beginning / transitional readers. You could pair this with Everything Goes: On Land for a transportation theme. This is recommended for public library collections. 3.5 star rating.

For ages 2 to 6, cars, transportation, stories-in-rhyme, and fans of Peter Stein and Bob Staake.

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring! Even my 4yr old who loves cars wasn't that keen on this one. The illustrations are colorful but the cars depicted are odd. It would be ok if you didn't have to find each car listed in the pages on the pages ... this is implied ... and it frankly takes too long for the child to decide which car is being referred to as some could be the same and yet they are all bizarre. Read Go Dog Go instead!!

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://pussreboots.pair.com/blog/2015...

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of highly imaginative cars drive.

"Cars and cars and yet still MORE cars! Millions, billions, cars-GALORE cars!"

Driving on multi-lane “Jetsons”-inspired loops of highway suspended in the sky, an unending stream of highly imaginative and fantastic cars drive.

The Midcentury Modern inspired illustrations were created digitally.

My toddler who has been socialized to like cars by other caregivers really enjoyed this book. The Noah's ark car and the skyscraper car were particular favorites as well as the car whose driver had exorbitantly protruding nose hair.

I, as someone enlisted in the war on cars, found this to be a fascinating piece of indoctrination material for motonormotivity, AKA "car brain." This futuristic looking city is covered with miles and miles of roadway dominating the landscape, and every single character, including anthropomorphic animals, are driving private, personal, motorized vehicles. This is no other modal share -- no buses, no elevated trains, no streetcars, no bicycles, no pedestrians -- alongside roadways anywhere in the illustrations. The world view and accompanying infrastructure are completely car-centric. The text even ends with the statement "Someday you’ll drive!"

[Amanda Geske · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book with silly, lilting rhymes and colorful, mod illustrations of cars. There aren't a ton of entry points for this book, so it seems like kiddos would either be super into the silliness, or may run cold. I'm keeping this one in my pocket for the "My kid is super into cars and trucks. What do you have?" ref questions.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading this book aloud to the kids I babysit. The fun rhymes and each surprising iteration of car was a fun tongue twister that I had to navigate. I would love to read this book over and over again. As a bonus, the illustrations have all kinds of fun surprises to pour over with the kids you're reading to.

[James Piss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter Stein, Peter Stein, what have you done?
Peter Stein, Peter Stein, you have become two from one.
Peter Stein, Peter Stein, did you do it with magic? Or some kind of Twisted, eff'd up science?
Peter Stein, Peter Stein. Why are you listed as the author twice on the main page of this book on goodreads?

not as good as trucks galore

[Janis Couvreux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter has an ingenious way with rhymes that just don’t stop—until the end of course. Fun for kids, some double entendre humor for adults, as well as the whole Galore series (be sure to check out the Bugs, Toys, and newest Trucks Galore).

[Jess El-Zeftawy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is annoying to read outloud but the illustrations are good. I see why they mighty appeal to the preschool crowd being both very literal and zany interpretations of the text. My 4 year old was into it.

[Little Seesaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

This reminds me of a book I used to read to my brother Bryan when he was little. The book was about things that go. Maybe that was the title? He loved this book. This book is rhymey and creative. I really like all of the fun artwork.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the illustrations.

[Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rhyming picture book with bright, fun illustrations all about cars? Yes, please.

[Christine Grant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great pictures but did not work well for Story Time.

[Elena Maddox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for lap reads. Not so great for story time. Car illustrations are a bit small.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not care for this one at all. The Ozman enjoyed it a lot, but I felt it was too weird. And a bit shamey in parts, I can't quite put my finger on why.

[Holliferous · Rating 5 out of 5]

My car-obsessed son LOVED this book and had me read it to him over and over while he pointed at the cars as I read their descriptions.

[Jessica]

My boys loved this book and all the silly cars.

[Kristen Thorp · Rating 3 out of 5]

116/365

Liked the 60s art style

[Jane Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read for children mad for cars and vehicles, like my son!

[Ethan & Isaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wacky car world that I am HERE FOR

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ughhhh I did not like this book but my car obsessed child does so 2 star compromise. That sunburnt white woman reads as blackface. I said what I said.

[Carrie Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Live Bob Staake's bright illustrations with a fun story.

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Bethany Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun to read car experience

[Margaret Chind · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.*

scheduled: http://creativemadnessmama.com/blog/2...

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cars Galore is a really fun read. It is exactly the sort of book I would have chosen for Toddler/Preschooler story time at the library. It reads as if Peter Stein wrote it by reading it out loud to a four-year-old. It is silly, funny and packed with visual words and onomatopoeia. And now I love it even more because I got to use the word "onomatopoeia" in a review.

I love everything about Bob Staake's artwork for this book, from the cover, to the end papers, to every illustration inside. Again, this would be a perfect book for story time, not just because of the text but because illustration stands out and could easily be seen from a distance. It is silly, funny, visually appealing, and if there were a word to describe artwork like "onomatopoeia", I'd use it.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 4 out of 5]

My four-year-old took to this with great joy, and has already requested repeat reads. The rhymes are great & the pictures creatively zany; however, for the adult reader-aloud, the illustrations are a constant frustration because there's no clear sequence of which car on the page goes with which line in the rhyme, and sometimes there are cars that don't seem to fit anywhere. After another 4-5 readings I will probably have settled on a pointing sequence... another idea would be to ask the child to identify which car is which, but that breaks up the rhythm of the verses. Best for the older preschooler at least, I think.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grades Preschool - 2

Silliness abounds in this energetic rhyming book about all kinds of cars. "Fast car, slow car/ on-the-go car/ Big car, small car./ Has-it-all car./ Cars and MORE cars!/ Doing-chore cars!/ Rev-'em-up-and-/ make-'em-ROAR cars!" Bob Staake's stylized retro drawings nicely complement Stein's verses, and will make adult readers think they've stepped back to the 1960's. When fans of all things car spot this title, it won't stay on the shelf... the upbeat tempo makes it a book that kids will want to hear over and over again.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun, rhyming read aloud! Cars Galore includes tons of fun, quirky cars with a bouncing, rhyming narrative. As an adult, even I enjoyed figuring out which car matched the descriptions. I loved the hundred-feet car!

Preschool aged children, especially car-obsessed tots, will certainly get a kick out of this book. I'm not sure I would purchases this book for a K-5 elementary collection, but younger children will love it and it definitely belongs in a public library.