Race Cars: Read all about them! (ages 4-8)

Many of my young students love nonfiction. They're fascinated to learn real facts and quickly learn just where their favorite books are. Here are two nonfiction books for kids who love fast race cars.

Race Day!
National Geographic Reader
by Gail Tuchman
National Geographic, 2010
Your local library
Amazon
ages 3-7

Head out to the race track and see just what car racers do in this fast-paced book for kids just beginning to read. The dynamic photos and very simple text make this a great place to start with young speedsters. Here you can see how simple the text is:

Race Day, National Geographic, 2010

Share this either with a three year old who doesn't like to sit still for long stories, or a kindergartner just beginning to read. They'll love the bright photographs and clean design. For kids who want more info, but like learning about lots of different car models, try My Big Fast Car Book.

My Big Fast Car Book
text and design, Duck Egg Blue
Ticktock Books, 2014
Your local library
Amazon
ages 5-8

This book will draw in readers who look out the car window and tell you each car model that passes. Kids will learn about the LaFerrari, the Bugatti Veyron, stock cars and more. Each double-page spread has one large photograph of the car, with bite-sized facts surrounding it.

My Big Fast Race Car, Ticktock Books, 2014

The details make this more appropriate for a first grader listening to an adult read it aloud, or a reader who already knows a lot about racing. The language is actually quite complicated, probably too complicated for a preschooler to understand. But they'll love the pictures and learning the car names.
If you're looking for a good over-all introduction, check out Race Cars: Start Your Engines!

Race Cars: Start Your Engines!
by Molly Aloian and Bobbie Kalman
Crabtree, 2007
Your local library
Amazon
ages 5-9

Although it gets off to a slow start, I think this book will appeal to kids who want to learn more about what makes some cars faster than others. The first sentences have no kid-appeal: "A racecar is a vehicle. A vehicle is machine that moves from place to place." Any kids who wants to read this book will know that already. But the text picks up speed from there. Here's a section that talks about the shape of a race car.

Race Cars: Start Your Engines, Crabtree, 2007

I particularly like the design of this book. The diagrams, labels and captions draw kids into the content and do not overwhelm the reader. For example, after the section above on the shape of the car, there's a subsection on wings that help the race car move quickly and keep low to the ground. Other chapters cover topics such as Indy 500 cars, Formula One cars, dragsters and go-carts.

If you like sharing nonfiction picture books with kids, definitely head over to Kid Lit Frenzy, where Alyson Beecher hosts the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge every Wednesday. This week, she's sharing Sniffer Dogs (on my must-read list!), and you'll see links of all sorts of nonfiction books teachers and parents love sharing with kids.

The review copies came from our home library. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2014 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books