The Life of a Car

What a simply splendid introduction to the key events in the life of a car. This large, bright picture book uses a succinct text in bold print to take us from the building of the car, delivering it on a huge lorry to the salesroom, buying and driving it and, finally, to the time when it has to be crushed after an accident. The pictures are bursting with colour bounded by thick black line and will encourage children to talk about their own experiences of being taken out by car. Will the double spread showing the crash upset young children? Not at all – for many this will be the best page adding the sort of drama they like and no doubt leading to a flood of anecdotes. The role of the sharing adult is important as orchestrator of all the questions and comments that are bound to be inspired. This would be a good book to have at home but it is robust enough to survive well in the nursery classroom. An information story as lively as this will reinforce in young minds the message that print books can be exciting and relevant.