Wake Up Engines
A boy awakens one morning to the sound of engines revving. He runs his toy cars around a little track in his room; outside, cars leave their garages on his street and head for expressways. Next, he brushes his teeth, while outside, the sweeper truck brushes the street: "Gutters glisten / shiny, clean. Whirring, purring / street machine." Inside, he loads his stuffed animals into a toy school bus; children board the real school bus. Throughout the morning, the boy's play at home parallels the sights and sounds of cars, trucks, and planes in the larger world. The short, rhyming text reads aloud well, with just enough words to comment on the action and plenty of sounds for children to enjoy, from the "RUMBLE! ROOOAR!" of the school bus to the "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" of the garbage truck. Vivid acrylic paintings fill the double-page spreads with moving vehicles, effectively contrasting with domestic scenes of the child at play. Phelan, Carolyn