All Kinds of Cars

If it has wheels and can be driven, it's a car--that's the takeaway message from Swedish illustrator Johanson's first children's book, which presents some wildly unusual vehicles, rendered in a flat, screenprintlike style in bold shades of red, yellow, blue, and green. A "ridiculous car" with extra-large wheels looks downright normal beside a two-turreted "castle car," a square-wheeled "chewing-gum car" blowing a giant bubble, and a driver-free "poo car" that needs no explanation. As if to suggest that a "dinosaur car" is every bit as plausible as, say, a bulldozer, Johanson intermixes spreads devoted to specialized, real-life mechanisms, including vehicles designed for fighting fires, construction, and farm work. It's a stylish and imaginative collection that all but guarantees kids will be reaching for art supplies as they dream up their own vehicles. Ages 3-5. (Mar.)