ABCs on Wheels

Starred review from May 23, 2016
In an excellent companion to 2015’s ABCs on Wings, Olivera introduces land-based vehicles large and small, old and new. Like its predecessor, the book is distinguished by smart word pairings and clean, crisp digital graphics, with details that amplify the ideas being introduced. A scene set in foggy London pairs a tiny Mini Cooper (“Cc is for compact”) and a large bus (“Dd is for double-decker”), the latter occupied by the queen, a punk rocker, and a bulldog with a monocle. Later on, a tow truck hauls a busted-up station wagon to the dump as Oliver cites “junkyard” and “kaput,” and a presidential “limousine” is surrounded, naturally, by a police “motorcade.” Like the “underdog” who wins a stock car race late in the book, this one deserves a victory lap. Ages 3–7. Agent: Jennifer Mattson, Andrea Brown Literary.

April 15, 2016
Moving vehicles are not a new theme for alphabet books, but only a few tackle a variety of machines rather than focusing on just one type; this is one of those exceptions.Uncluttered, graphically flat illustrations make this one appealing. The majority of the letters are used descriptively or associatively rather than beginning names of wheeled vehicles. Given that approach, some letters are logical, such as Aa for axle, Bb for bumper, Gg for garage and grease, and Yy for yellow cab, while others are a stretch. It's the creative juxtaposition of images across the double-page spreads that create scenes and keep this from needing an oil change. Jj for junkyard and Kk for kaput show a tow truck hauling away a crashed SUV; Pp and Qq for plugged in and quiet demonstrate an electric car undergoing tests; a man in a hot rod is seen chasing an ice-cream truck. Unusual choices are Rr for (lunar) rover, Ss for stagecoach, Uu for underdog, Vv for victory lane, and Ww for winner. For the letter Xx, two dueling excavators form an X with their buckets poised to dig over a marked spot. A natural pairing is Ll for limousine and Mm for motorcade. Olivera depicts humans in a variety of skin tones, adding whimsy with such touches as a bulldog in a bowler hat, a knight in full armor, and the queen all riding in a double-decker London bus.Start your engines! (Picture book. 4-7)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 1, 2016

PreS-K-Olivera follows up his ABCs on Wings with this mostly terrestrial vehicular alphabet (lunar rover being the only exception). Illustrated in a retro, cartoony style with wonderfully rich colors and angular graphics, cars, limos, buses, and even a stagecoach fill the pages, accompanied by captions that display uppercase and lowercase letters-"Aa is for axle, Bb is for bumper..." and so on. While young readers will be familiar with many of the vehicles pictured, such as an ice-cream truck or a yellow cab, a hot rod, compact, or double-decker might elicit questions and require further explanation. VERDICT A fun addition to ABC and transportation collections.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.