review
When the summer vacation has arrived, people travel a lot by car. Traveling by car is an informative picture book for children from the age of four about traveling the world, in this case by car. It answers all kinds of questions from young children. The text was written by Pierre Winters, the illustrations were made by Tineke Meirink.
Details of the book Traveling by car
- Text: Pierre Winters
- Illustrations: Tineke Meirink
- Publisher: Clavis
- Published: 2011
- Genre: children’s book, picture book
- Number of pages: 31
- ISBN: 978 90 448 1393 7
- Suitable for: ages four and up
About the writer, Pierre Winters
Pierre Winters was born in Hasselt, Belgium. After more than 30 years of successful publishing career, he became the author of children’s books.
About the illustrator, Tineke Meirink
Tineke has been an illustrator since 1997. She studied at the School of Visual Arts in Den Bosch, where she obtained her diploma in 1996. Tineke mainly focuses on children with her work. She makes illustrations for books, magazines and free work. In the beginning she only worked with ink and acrylic paint, nowadays she also opts for cutting and pasting work. Tineke likes to incorporate jokes into her drawings. The illustrator’s clients include: Zwijsen, Clavis, Malmberg, Gottmer, Wolters-Noordhoff, House of Books, ANWB and Sesamstraat.
Willingness
Books from this series are informative picture books that answer questions from young children. Some subjects are close to children, others a little further. The books are about the world, about nature, about the present and past and about life now. The book Traveling by car falls under the world traveling, but you also have: nature, lots to do and history.
The structure of the book
- Introduction: piece of text about boy Sam
- The first cars
- Today’s car: a fun way to go on vacation
- You can go anywhere
- We are getting ready to go
- All children want to drive fast
- There are so many roads
- We are all on the road
- How do we find the way?
- What can happen on the way?
- Drive to the horizon
- Are you traveling with us?
- Make your own car (and eat it)!
- What crazy cars!
- Miniquiz
The story
- Sam is a little boy and loves to play with his toy cars. His father has a big car and they can travel with it. Not all things can go in the car, they go on the roof.
- Back in the days there were no cars yet, but there were horses and carriages pulled by horses. The first cars were made of wood, leather and cane.
- Most everyone in the rich countries where we live has a car. Modern cars come in all colors and sizes. Some cars are suitable for driving in the meadow or in the forest. We have heating in the car and often air conditioning. You can listen to music and sometimes you can watch movies on a small DVD player.
- You can go anywhere with a car. It is possible to trek around but you can also drive to a place where it is very nice and stay there until the end of the holiday. You can go to the mountains or to the city, you can stay in a hotel but also in a tent or caravan. It is possible to rent a car, you use it and bring it back after the holiday.
- Before you go with the car you have to prepare everything very well. Clothes, toys, games, books and maybe a bicycle. But not everything can go, a car is too small for that. The car must also be fit before departure. The tires must be properly inflated, there must be enough oil in the engine, all lights must work.
- All children want to ride fast, Zane wants to be just as fast as his mother, Emma takes the bike, Marie pushes her bike forward with her feet and Ruben chases her. When they all leave together, they are in the file!
- There are so many roads. Making and maintaining all those roads costs a lot of money. That’s why you sometimes have to pay to drive on a road. You call that toll roads.
- We are all on the road. Every now and then you have to rest, you can stop in parking lots next to the highway. You can go to the toilet, eat something or walk around, play football. The dog can also be walked.
- Finding the way. There are signs with names and arrows along the roads. All the roads in the world are also drawn on a map. And not long ago, the gps invented. These letters stand for global positioning system. It’s a car computer that connects to a satellite, which is a machine that hangs high above the earth. This satellite always knows where you are. If you enter where you want to go on the device, it quickly calculates which way is best to follow.
- Anything can happen along the way. Of course sometimes a car breaks down, the roadside assistance can help. If he cannot remedy the complaints, the tow truck will come. We must obey the rules, you must know the meaning of all road signs. The police ensures that everyone adheres to the rules.
- Drive to the horizon. The horizon seems to disappear. In the mountains and on the sea, the horizon travels with you!
- Make your own car (and eat it)! You will need: a cucumber, four cherry tomatoes or radishes, a carrot, a bell pepper and nine toothpicks. Just drive and eat afterwards. You can also make your own car bingo game. Great for on the road, whoever first sees all the drawings on his or her card calls bingo and has won.
- Miniquiz with ten questions. Example of a question: What are the roads where you have to pay? You can find the answers behind the flap in the book.
The text and illustrations
On the cover an image of a car with a father, mother and child. A suitcase with a teddy bear on it is attached to the roof. The title is stated in large green letters (Traveling by car) and underneath the name of the writer and the illustrator. To the left of the title you can see that this is a book from the willewete (the world) series. Brief information about willewete and the content of the book on the back. On the flyleaves images of motorways, water and a tunnel. The book begins with a short story about Sam, followed by chapters on other things to do with cars. The drawings in the book cover almost an entire page. The book is playfully structured, there are a kind of flaps, sometimes you can open a page. Generous drawings of all kinds of cars with a lot of explanation. On almost every page you come across a kind of balloon in a bright color with ‘facts’. So for example: Did you know that the fire brigade, the ambulance and the police come to help very quickly if an accident happens? The drawings are very nice to see, executed in fresh colors. There is plenty to see for toddlers, but also for children who are slightly older. The text reads pleasantly, but I can imagine that a four-year-old will not understand all the sentences yet. In that case, telling in your own words is the solution. For example: If everyone adheres to the rules, traffic will run smoother and safer and fewer accidents will occur. There is a crafting tip at the end of the book, this one is very fun and delicious. Clear explanation of how to make a car, both in the text and in the images. The quiz is also fun to do, you can immediately check what a child has remembered from the content of the book.
Two excerpts from the book
Fragment 1
Sam plays with his cars. He has a lot of them. The small orange car is his favorite car. He lets all his cars drive one after the other. Vroem vroem ?? boom! Sometimes they also collide. In his collection, Sam has exactly the same car as his dad. Only Dad’s is big. Very big??
Fragment 2
Now everyone has a car, but of course that has not always been the case. People have always tried to move faster and further. For a long time they used horses and carriages that were pulled by horses. The first cars were very much like horse-drawn carriages, but with an engine instead of a horse. For example, they had no roof yet and you had to light the lamps with a match. The cars could not drive as fast and as far as today.
My opinion about Traveling by car
I think it is a very informative picture book about traveling by car. It is a book that a child will not easily get bored.