My Little Red Car

When a boy receives a sporty toy automobile for his birthday, he envisages setting off on a whirlwind grand tour. The eager dreamer proceeds to spiral up tall mountains . . . and zoom down deep valleys in a flash. Later he stops for lunch in a beautiful old city (Paris) then yields to the lure of the desert and the North Pole. This charmingly skewed vision, grounded in reality but colored by a boyish search for excitement, is illustrated with a warm zippiness. Slapdash watercolors in unusual combinations of muted tones blend in hazy dream locales where the red car always stands out. Landmarks often distinguish one location from another, but the landscape remains one of the imagination; when darkness falls the adventurer heads home to the safety of bed. Action verbs gracefully predominate as the car speeds, weaves and zigzags, complementing the carefree wind in the hair feel to the vigorous art-looser and freer, in fact, than Demarest's previous work. Ages 2-6. (Sept.)