Cars: Engines That Move You (Science Comics)

by Dan Zettwoch (Author)

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade
Series: Science Comics

In Dan Zettwoch's Science Comics: Cars, you'll learn where cars came from and how they work. When you pop the hood, what are you looking at? How does gasoline--or electric batteries, or even steam--make a car move? Rev up your motor and take look at the combustible history of the automobile and its explosive effects on our modern lives.

Every volume of Science Comics offers a complete introduction to a particular topic--dinosaurs, the solar system, robots, and more. Whether you're a fourth grader doing a natural science unit at school or a thirty year old with a secret passion for airplanes, these books are for you!

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School Library Journal

Gr 4-7-Though more of a history of automobiles than a study of their technology, this "Science Comics" entry does dive beneath the hood to highlight electrical and other systems, along with simple explanations of two- and four-cycle internal combustion engines. Zettwoch offers clear, labeled cutaway views as necessary, but he plainly takes more delight in portraying the wild and crazy variety of cars that have come down the pike over the past century and a half--from the spidery putt-putt of Karl Benz that his intrepid wife Bertha took for a 120-mile spin in 1888 to the sleek Tesla Roadster that was sent into space with a mannequin "astronaut" behind the wheel in 2018. In between, the author treats fans to a colorful parade of experimental models, racers, popular classics, and hybrid and electrical cars, capped by exuberant galleries of commercial vehicles (no fewer than 100 types squeezed onto four teeming pages), "weird cars" like the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, head-on views of "car faces," and horns of diverse design. His closing resource list includes more systematic introductions to what he terms the "science-y stuff," as well as leads to specialty magazines, relevant comics, and comprehensive car histories. VERDICT This breezy spin through the past, present, and (near) future of cars and related vehicles speeds down a well-traveled road, but its graphic format will give it particular appeal to readers years away from learner's permits.

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Praise for the Science Comics series:

This series—written by a handful of authors—seems determined to offer a useful introduction to anything a curious grade-school student might wonder about. The insight behind these books is a powerful one. So much information about the world around us is actually better conveyed visually, through charts, illustrations, and sequential panels, than purely using words. —New York Times

Like having a Time Life Science Library in comic books. Which is awesome! —Popular Science

Praise for Science Comics: Cars:

The winding scenery that gives this journey warmth is historical anecdotes...Zettwoch imbues his visually dense pages with personality and flow befitting his subject. —Booklist

This breezy spin through the past, present, and (near) future of cars and related vehicles speeds down a well-traveled road, but its graphic format will give it particular appeal to readers years away from learner's permits. —School Library Journal

Dan Zettwoch
Dan Zettwoch is a cartoonist, information designer, and printmaker. In addition to many self-published zines and handcrafted mini-comics, his books include Birdseye Bristoe (Drawn & Quarterly), Amazing Facts & Beyond (Uncivilized Books), and Science Comics: Cars (First Second). His goofball illustrations and jam-packed diagrams have also been seen in the Missouri History Museum, the State Capitol, and in homemade screen prints commemorating local birds, baseball, and gross foods.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781626728219
Lexile Measure
630
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
First Second
Publication date
May 28, 2019
Series
Science Comics
BISAC categories
JNF051120 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Technology | How Things Work/Are Made
JNF057030 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Transportation | Cars & Trucks
JNF062030 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Comics & Graphic Novels | Science & Nature
Library of Congress categories
Graphic novels
Automobiles
Cartoons and comics
Nonfiction comics
Educational comics

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