Review by Booklist Review
Ages 3-5. Here's a happy story hour choice. "Junie was hot. Jakie was hot. Even the baby was hot hot hot." Papa decides a trip to the lake would be fun, but there's the problem of their rattletrap car: "it doesn't go fast and it doesn't go far." Still, the family piles in, along with a beach ball, a surfboard, a thermos of razzleberry dazzleberry snazzleberry fizz, and some chocolate marshmallow fudge delight. The car huffs and puffs and bings and pops its way down the road, and they don't get far before a tire goes flat. Junie uses the beach ball as a tire, which she sticks to the axle with chocolate marshmallow fudge delight. Other mechanical problems are solved in the same way, till the family finally gets to the pond--and back. The oversize format and the bright, crisp pictures by the artist of Baby Duck fame, make this hilariously suitable for groups. Add to that lots of great words to say (clinkety clankety, whumpety whomp), and the joy of seeing each automotive crisis solved with chocolate marshmallow fudge delight, and you've got a picture book that passes the fun test with flying fizz. --Ilene Cooper
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Each time their car breaks down a family member improvises a solution, making ingenious use of a beach toy and car snacks. According to PW, this tale offers "plenty of rhythmic repetition and nonsense words," while the "high-spirited watercolors [convey] a sense of humor." Ages 4-8. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-On a hot summer day, Junie and Jakie suggested a trip to the lake. Poppa worries about whether or not their old car will make it ("It doesn't go fast and it doesn't go far"), but the family decides to give it a try. They haven't gone far when "boomsssssssss. The tire went flat." Junie knows what to do-she puts her beach ball in the place of the wheel, sticking it on tight with chocolate marshmallow fudge delight. Then, "whumpety whomp!"-the floor falls off. This time, Jakie knows just what to do. A series of other near-disasters follows, each finding a silly remedy with an item that had been packed for the outing, and they make it to the lake. Cumulative stories are most successful when they have a little twist or surprise at the end, and there isn't one here, but the bouncy, creative language more than makes up for that lack. The internal rhymes, alliteration, and creative car sounds make a perfect read-aloud. The watercolor illustrations are full of action as the rattletrap car bounces off the road and seems to rush off the page. The words for the car sounds bounce, too, in their larger, uneven fonts. The illustrations contribute humorous detail capturing the family's alternating despair, inventiveness, and glee at moving again.-Adele Greenlee, Bethel College, St. Paul, MN (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
A family wants to go to the lake on a hot day, but their old car keeps breaking down. They repair the car with a variety of beach items--a ball, a surfboard, and a three-speed paddleboat. Rhyming text conveys the boisterous, bouncy movements of the rattletrap car. The warm, lively illustrations set the story in a timeless, rural past. From HORN BOOK Fall 2001, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
It takes everything theyve got to get this family to the lake in their falling-apart car. In fact, without the help of Junies beach ball, Jakies surf board, and a generous helping of Poppas chocolate marshmallow fudge delight, theyd probably still be sitting just outside the farmyard. As parts fly off the car, and the bouncing trip is brought to a halt at each juncture, the red-lettered text springs along creating sound effects, rhythm, and movement, spitter, spatter, sput! As each part is replaceda beach ball for a tire, a surfboard for a floornew sounds accumulate, making the read-aloud extra lively. Poppa turned the key, brum brum, brum brum. Wappity babbity / lumpety bumpety / clinkety clankety / bing bang pop! This single-parent family, illustrated in watercolor and pencil, could be the red-haired cousins of the characters in Root and Bartons last popular collaborative effort What Baby Wants (1998). Full-bleed, double-paged, oversized pictures will project to medium-sized groups and the text will certainly lock in their attention and more than likely their participation. Only outrageously funny and impossible solutions are offered, showing a sweet Dad and his three children cooperating joyfully in every aspect of their adventure. No reality check is needed here, just high spirits and a rollicking good time. (Picture book. 5-7)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
