about the book
Lights flash. “Red light, yellow light, green light, GO!” Race Car One honks, “Look at me!/ He zooms in front with the turn of a key.”
Rhyming text continues to relate the flash and thrill of a race car track, counting up from one to ten. Each car is a different color and make and model, reflecting unique personalities in each—from Formula One racers to windup toy lookalikes, even a souped-up minivan, all vying for first place!
Race Car Two “is close behind./ The sound of vroom is on his mind.” Race Car Eight “is dynamite—/ thunders, roars, swerves to the right.” Maybe when the race is over, they all can have a rematch?
about the author
Rebecca Kai Dotlich was born on July 10, 1951 in Indianapolis, Indiana. She loved listening to her family’s stories and reading about real people’s lives. Not just the big things, but also the small moments and experiences that shaped who they were to become.
At the age of five, the family moved to Falcon Drive where a baby sister joined Rebecca and her older brother. Their backyard fence backed up to the Indianapolis 500 raceway, so she and her brother sold donuts and lemonade to the fans and watched the famous races from their roof. Once a week, she’d walked to the end of the block where the bookmobile parked. During those years, Rebecca realized her brother’s world revolved around books. His devotion to the tomes convinced her to love books, too.
In junior high, she discovered music, enticed more by the words than the beat. She loved homework (no, really!) and began to write poetry. At Indiana University she was interested in any class that celebrated the written word. “As long as I was involved with words on paper, I was content.”
Rebecca married her high school sweetheart and worked at a library, a realty company, and a clothing store; she stuffed envelopes for a Congressman and traipsed the airport concourses handing out maps and smiling a lot. (Her job title was public relations.)
Rebecca also began to write in earnest, collecting a mound of rejection letters. Eventually her jottings started to get published in magazines. Then her first picture book of poems was published! Her lucky break came when anthologist Lee Bennet Hopkins asked her to write for his collections.
Now Rebecca wakes each morning excited to spend the day in her writing room. It is a magical place that keeps her turning pages and “fiddling with words.”
Source:
Author website
Also by Rebecca Kai Dotlich:
The Knowing Book. Boyds Mills Press. 2016.
One Day, the End. : Short, Very Short, Shorter-Than-Ever Stories. Boyds Mills Press. 2015.
All Aboard! Knopf Books for Young Readers. 2014.
Digger the Dinosaur and the Cake Mistake (My First I Can Read Book). Harper Collins. 2013.
Digger the Dinosaur (My First I Can Read Book). Harper Collins. 2013.
What Can a Crane Pick Up? Knopf Books for Young Readers. 2012.
Bella & Bean. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 2009.
Peanut and Pearl’s Picnic Adventure. Harper Collins. 2007.
What Is Science? Henry Holt & Company. 2006.
In the Spin of Things : Poetry of Motion. Boyds Mills Press. 2003.
about the illustrator
It is obvious that Michael Slack is an imaginative and zany sort of guy. All it takes is a glance at his illustrations full of silly creatures!
As a kid Michael was plagued by weird chronic nightmares, especially of a large swampy thing terrorizing a mall. In the dreams, no one ever got hurt, but there was a lot neat mangled stuff—and he was left craving a pet Creature from the Black Lagoon. Since his mother banned slimy things, he created his own creepy world. He began by drawing mummies he copied from library books.
After taking a summer art program at Cal-Arts, Michael decided to enroll at the San Francisco Art Institute, earning a fine arts degree in painting. There he painted large abstract oils and moody pictures filled with strange creatures.
Falling back on his love of monsters, he landed a job creating and animating characters for computer games. A few years later he went freelance, opening his company Slackart. His character-filled humorous art work appears in books and magazines, and on television, children’s products and apparel. His fine art pieces are exhibited in the U.S. and in Europe.
Michael currently lives in Lafayette, California, with his family. He loves to travel, is a budding botanist, and hopes one day to shake the hand of a chimp!
Sources:
Illustrator website
Illustrator biography: Lerner
Illustrator interview: Little Chimp Society
Also illustrated by Michael Slack:
Nugget & Fang : Friends Forever – Or Snack Time? by Tammi SauerHarcourt Children’s Books. 2013.
Pass It On! by Marilyn Sadler. Blue Apple Books. 2012.
Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie : Math Puzzlers in Classic Poems. Harcourt Children’s Books. 2012.
Scapegoat : The Story of a Goat Named Oat and a Chewed-Up Coat by Dean Hale. Bloomsbury USA. 2011.
read more!
All Aboard! by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
Two kids board a train heading for summer camp, but the real fun begins on the train itself. The kids delight in all the sights and sounds they see while aboard. Cities and landscapes and other trains go rushing by outside. And the passengers? They are just as unique as the two kids!
Number One Sam by Greg Pizzoli
Sam the dog is always number one in speed racing, but one day his friend Maggie beats him, and Sam doesn’t know what to do. At the next race Sam is forced to choose between rescuing a group of chicks who have wandered onto the track, or in trying to reclaim his winning title. Sam does the right thing, and everyone cheers for him.
The Racecar Alphabet by Brian Floca
The letter A is for Automobiles. B is for engine Belts. C is for Curves—and crowds. And cars, of course! Alliterative text introduces readers to the parts of cars and the history of automotive races, beginning with the early Ford 999, made in 1901, and ending 100 years later with the impressive Ferrari F1-2001. Zip with these fast cars through the alphabet!