WAKE UP ENGINES

After having glided into slumber to the soothing cadence of Good Night Engines (2003), it’s time to get young motors humming and rumbling in its companion story. It’s a brand new day so, “Fasten seatbelt, drive away.” The acrylic paintings portray scenes of a little boy moving through his morning with a toy vehicle always at hand, while images of the world awakening appear on alternating pages. The youngster pushes his cars along a diminutive highway, while outside cars and trucks maneuver through traffic to the tune of “Honk! Honk! And Brmm! Brmm!” He’s not old enough to hop the school bus that stops outside his window, but he’s imaginative enough to envision helicopters dipping through tall buildings and jets zooming to lift-off. Iwai again delivers colorful visions of a boy’s view amid a world crammed with vehicles. Brimming with tantalizing motor sounds and with just the right amount of rhyming text, this will get young ones’ mornings off to a zippy start. (Picture book. 2-5)