Customer Reviews

The Two Cars (New York Review Childrens Collection)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I and my brother used to fight over who got the copy of this from the public library. Later when the library decessioned the badly mauled (not just by us) book, my mother got that copy.

The story concerns two cars: an old car and a new car. They agree to have a race. The old car takes it slow, or at the speed limit anyway, and the new car goes speeding off. Speeding tickets and roadside assistance result in delays for both cars, and they are neck and neck (or bumper and bumper) at the finish. You may be surprised at who wins.

The writing is good for children who have learned to read, but are not too advanced. There are illustrations and they tell the story, but they are better used if someone is reading to the child. This is a book that I and my brother had both memorized from rereading it, if that gives you any indication of the book's quality.

The edition I have is printed in 1955. It has been heavily used, but the binding is good and the pages are not brittle. I can tug on pages and they are strong and firmly bound. An older edition of this book could withstand day-to-day use by children today.

This is similar to the tortoise-and-hare story but with an odd twist which doesn't entirely make sense to me. It's basically old car versus new car in a race, only at the end, the slow old car gets pulled over by a police officer who congratulates him on his great driving (and meanwhile, the new car drives by and wins the race). But the old car is happy because he "won the praise." It's nicely written and has lovely pictures, but I still can't get over the ending.

My 3yo loves it, however, and wants it read most nights, though I'm not sure he really understands the moral of the story (which I'm still trying to understand myself). Kids understand that "winning the race" is good; I'm not sure they can pick up the subtleties of: "praise can be better than winning."

This was my favorite book growing up. Unfortunately it was located at my grandmother's house and I was only able to read it once a year. This is great adaptation of the tortoise and the hair. At the time it was considered a modern interpretation. Now the cars etc are dated which lends to the story.

I had to give this to my god son.