If Cars Could Talk by Lisa Rita

This review first appeared on Reader Views. Read the Reader Views Kids version here. 

If Cars Could Talk by Lisa Rita is a fast-paced race between four talking cars. The competition revs up between first two, then three, and then four cars that agree to meet at midnight for an ultimate race. The cars take off with engines roaring and wheels spinning, full of twists and turns that make for an exciting ride and teach the cars some surprising lessons about themselves and each other.

Each car in If Cars Could Talk has a fun name that includes the color of the car. This helps young readers both easily identify which car is which and stretch their vocabulary a bit. This is because the pink car is sometimes called Pink, which is how the youngest reader will think of the car, but is also called Pretty in Pink which an older reader can identify and recite (it’s also a fun reference for Molly Ringwald fans).

Author Lisa Rita works quite a few clever puns into the text of If Cars Could Talk. This not only punches up the reading experience, it helps strengthen the thinking skills of the young readers taking in this book. Puns are a great way for kids to learn vocabulary and creative expression.

The illustrations in If Cars Could Talk are all very clear. This makes the book best for young readers as they will be easily able to discern what is going on in each image.  I would have liked to have seen a few more intricate details to engage younger readers even more. However, it was also a nice touch to have the text overlaid on images. This keeps the reader looking at every single page.

The message of girl power is a welcome one. It is especially rare—and especially welcome—to find this message in a vehicle-centric picture book. Girls are often underrepresented in media and especially in media that is too often coded for just boys. Having the pink, pretty, girly car win the difficult race is satisfying and important.

If Cars Could Talk by Lisa Rita combines the excitement of a race, the creativity of names, the cleverness of puns, the clarity of illustrations, and a message of girl power.

If Cars Could Talk by Lisa Rita, Austin Macauley