Everything Goes: On Land (Everything Goes)

In a visual feast for fans of wheeled vehicles large and small, Biggs presents a series of high-density street scenes done in an amiably rumpled cartoon style. A glory ride for young car, truck, train, bus and trolley devotees.

Illustrator Biggs's first solo outing launches a transportation-based series with a cartooned survey of vehicles that populate the roads and rails. Using the framing device of Henry and his father driving to pick up Henry's mother at the train station, Biggs (the Brownie & Pearl series) creates a series of bustling landscapes full of vehicles, real and whimsical, which provide conversation fodder for father and son. Every few pages, Henry's questions prompt Biggs to break from the journey and zero in on a specific vehicle's components and capabilities, providing just enough detail to satisfy budding gearheads ("When you turn the key in the ignition, the battery sends a jolt of electricity to the motor that starts the car"). While it's too early to declare Biggs the next Richard Scarry or Martin Handford, this series has plenty of potential: Biggs has a cheery cartooning style that's reminiscent of R. Crumb and ideal for populating his oversized pages with a multitude of players and detail. With running visual jokes and mini-narratives adding to the fun, Biggs gives readers lots to take in and enjoy. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

PreS-Gr 1--As they travel from their suburban home through busy city streets to pick up Mom at the train station, Henry and his dad observe bikes, cars and vans, motorcycles, RVs, service vehicles, and finally trains. This oversize book's double-page cartoons bustle with visual pep. Following the busy street scenes, Dad explains a type of vehicle in depth. Henry learns basically how a motor works and what amenities an RV offers. There's a continuing game for readers to find a bird wearing a hat. Fun and learning are ideally balanced in this engaging trek that will be revisited umpteen times before every tidbit of labeling, conversation, and oddity is discovered in this wealth of urban wheels.--Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.