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Zoom!
Lauretta's mother takes her to buy a new wheelchair, but Lauretta isn't satisfied with a regular five- or ten-speed model. No, she demands the 92-speed, black, silver, and red dirt-bike wheelchair! When she gets a speeding ticket during a one-day tryout, her parents insist that the chair be returned to the store...until Lauretta's older brother has an accident and only one person can whisk him to the hospital on time.
Library Binding
First published January 1, 2002
9 people are currently reading
329 people want to read
About the author
Robert Munsch
289 books1,673 followersRobert Munsch was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Fordham University in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and from Boston University in 1971 with a Master of Arts degree in anthropology.
He studied to become a Jesuit priest, but decided he would rather work with children after jobs at orphanages and daycare centers. In 1973, he received a Master of Education in Child Studies from Tufts University. In 1975 he moved to Canada to work at the preschool at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario. He also taught in the Department of Family Studies at the University of Guelph as a lecturer and as an assistant professor. In Guelph he was encouraged to publish the many stories he made up for the children he worked with.
Munsch's wife delivered two stillborn babies in 1979 and 1980. Out of the tragedy, he produced one of his best-known books, Love You Forever. This book was listed fourth on the 2001 Publishers Weekly All-Time Best selling Children's Books list for paperbacks at 6,970,000 copies (not including the 1,049,000 hardcover copies). The Munsches have since become adoptive parents of Julie, Andrew and Tyya (see them all in Something Good!)
Munsch has obsessive-compulsive disorder and has also suffered from manic depression. In August 2008, Munsch suffered a stroke that affected his ability to speak in normal sentences. He has recovered enough that he is able to perform live, but has put his writing career on hold until he is fully recovered.
He studied to become a Jesuit priest, but decided he would rather work with children after jobs at orphanages and daycare centers. In 1973, he received a Master of Education in Child Studies from Tufts University. In 1975 he moved to Canada to work at the preschool at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario. He also taught in the Department of Family Studies at the University of Guelph as a lecturer and as an assistant professor. In Guelph he was encouraged to publish the many stories he made up for the children he worked with.
Munsch's wife delivered two stillborn babies in 1979 and 1980. Out of the tragedy, he produced one of his best-known books, Love You Forever. This book was listed fourth on the 2001 Publishers Weekly All-Time Best selling Children's Books list for paperbacks at 6,970,000 copies (not including the 1,049,000 hardcover copies). The Munsches have since become adoptive parents of Julie, Andrew and Tyya (see them all in Something Good!)
Munsch has obsessive-compulsive disorder and has also suffered from manic depression. In August 2008, Munsch suffered a stroke that affected his ability to speak in normal sentences. He has recovered enough that he is able to perform live, but has put his writing career on hold until he is fully recovered.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
October 31, 2008
You don't often see a humorous children's book featuring someone in a wheelchair. Love it!
August 24, 2009
So Lauretta needs a new wheelchair, and the only one she wants is a super powerful monster-truck type chair. (who can blame her? It's awesome!)
Prepare to yell ZOOOOOOM lots of times. Loudly. Kids love that stuff.
An excellent story to introduce the concept of wheelchairs to children, as well as the idea that people are capable of great things, even if they are in a wheelchair!
This book makes up for that awful book of Munsch's - Love you forever. Way to redeem yourself, Robert!
Prepare to yell ZOOOOOOM lots of times. Loudly. Kids love that stuff.
An excellent story to introduce the concept of wheelchairs to children, as well as the idea that people are capable of great things, even if they are in a wheelchair!
This book makes up for that awful book of Munsch's - Love you forever. Way to redeem yourself, Robert!
July 11, 2025
Robert Munsch books are always a classic and so fun to read. Projecting the animated story for the kids with Mr. Munsch reading it and his fun voiced and me reading it is a different experience. Nonetheless all enjoyable
October 18, 2009
So, our main character wants a new wheelchair. So they go to this WONDERFULLY awesome wheelchair store and she immediately chooses not the five speed chair, nor the seven speed chair with purple wheels, but the NINETY-THREE (or whatever) speed wheelchair.
And gets a ticket for speeding. But before her parents can take her chair away and get her a slower one, her brother pricks his finger just a little bit and she has to rush him to the hospital (all the time muttering that her family is insane, but hey - BLOOD!)
In the end, she decides that she needs an even faster wheelchair, and we see her on the last page in this improbable monster truck of a wheelchair on the highway. Awesome!
Now, the first bit of good is the attitude taken in regards to her disability. There's no explicit moral message given. We're not condescendingly told she's a normal child - we're shown she's normal (at least, as normal as it gets within the bounds of a Munsch book!) and her wheelchair is THE COOLEST THING EVER.
The second good thing is the story itself. It has nothing to do with wheelchairs at all. Her need for speed could have just as easily been satisfied through having an able-bodied child on a dirt bike or a sled. It's just a funny, silly story about a kid going super fast.
It doesn't grab me as much as Munsch's other books, and I'm not sure why, but it's still head and shoulders over most picture books with disabled protagonists. DEFINITELY get this one for your home or school.
And gets a ticket for speeding. But before her parents can take her chair away and get her a slower one, her brother pricks his finger just a little bit and she has to rush him to the hospital (all the time muttering that her family is insane, but hey - BLOOD!)
In the end, she decides that she needs an even faster wheelchair, and we see her on the last page in this improbable monster truck of a wheelchair on the highway. Awesome!
Now, the first bit of good is the attitude taken in regards to her disability. There's no explicit moral message given. We're not condescendingly told she's a normal child - we're shown she's normal (at least, as normal as it gets within the bounds of a Munsch book!) and her wheelchair is THE COOLEST THING EVER.
The second good thing is the story itself. It has nothing to do with wheelchairs at all. Her need for speed could have just as easily been satisfied through having an able-bodied child on a dirt bike or a sled. It's just a funny, silly story about a kid going super fast.
It doesn't grab me as much as Munsch's other books, and I'm not sure why, but it's still head and shoulders over most picture books with disabled protagonists. DEFINITELY get this one for your home or school.
August 11, 2008
We just got this book from my friend Tammy. She has Cerebral Paulsey and rides around in a wheelchair. Which of course makes this story very true. She is hilarious. Very intelligent, just does things a little differently than the average person. But physical differences are no hinderance to her capabilities.
This is a great book.
This is a great book.
January 4, 2008
Another great Robert Munsch book...this one was funny (as usual) and the kids loved it!
October 31, 2008
I like that they have a story about a person in a wheelchair. I also notice that the children in all of his books are named after someone the author knows, and I think that's a cute idea.
March 11, 2009
This book is the funnest book I've ever read aloud to little siblings. All the capital letters make for a lot of shouting.
July 28, 2020
Time was I would roam around in a wheelchair, since I did have an arthritic condition in both knees. And who knows, maybe one day, as I grow real old (yeesh!) I might use a wheelchair again. But I will always honor others who are less fortunate than I am, even if they walk upright. Certainly I see those in wheelchairs as warriors since they live day by day independently in their chairs, and because they live so well they are dumped on by others for being better than the ones hating. This book is about one wheelchair warrior, a girl, Lauretta, who loves her wheelchair, as long as it's got a motor that makes it fast! Like, Dale Earnhardt fast! So she and her mom head for the special shop which caters to handicapped warriors (and yes I say WARRIORS because us handicaps are the best heroes!) and sells chairs that can go up to 10 or even 100 speeds! Lauretta tries the 12 speed, finds it too slow! WHAT! IS SHE EXPECTING A FORMULA ONE CHAIR? She finally strikes a bargain on a chair that has 92 speeds, free for the first day. So she gets one day to burn up the streets, going from 0 to 100 mph in 5 seconds! Like Danica Patrick from NASCAR races, she burns rubber, gets hounded by cops, gets ticketed for speeding (speeding? In a wheelchair? Whoa! Was she doing 31 in a 30 mph zone?) Then she has to use her speedy chair to save her bratty brother from DEATH BY HURT FINGERTIP! Lauretta is awesome and awesomely badass! Danica should be proud of this girl! I know I am, and I never owned a 94 speed wheelchair. Sobby sobby!
Four stars
Lauretta is high octane wheelchair awesomeness!!!
Four stars
Lauretta is high octane wheelchair awesomeness!!!
January 12, 2018
This was a bit too passive for me and the mom seemed to do all of the action and leading the story forward, it would have been so much funner if the main character did all the action like, sorta n Goldilocks. Instead like on page 10: Then Lauretta’s mother said, “Well, how about this? Look at this! A nice new 15-speed wheelchair It’s fantastic. It’s purple, green, yellow. It costs lots and lots of money.” But the illustrations are the best and made the book hilarious and I liked the concept because it is pretty relatable. The brother bothered me and just thrown in there for something to happen. The ending was not that satisfying and not fully developed; the main character should have led the story.
September 22, 2017
Look! A kid in a wheelchair in which the wheelchair is just part of her ordinary life! Of course our hero wants the fastest possible chair to zoom around in. Why wouldn't she? But can her family handle the zooming, not to mention the cost? Well, when her zooming gets her brother to the hospital in a hurry (if for a very minor accident), the answer is yes.
I liked this, though I don't know how disability activists might think of it. To me, the Munsch approach humanizes wheelchair users to other kids and of course it's funny and a good read aloud-- ZOOOMMMMM!
I liked this, though I don't know how disability activists might think of it. To me, the Munsch approach humanizes wheelchair users to other kids and of course it's funny and a good read aloud-- ZOOOMMMMM!
November 24, 2021
This book is full of adventure, fun, and understanding. This book is great for children to understand that despite of their disability nothing stops you from having fun. Loretta is a daredevil and wants a super fast wheelchair. Each wheelchair she tests in the store is TOO SLOW until she finds the one. After enjoying her 92 speed wheelchair and saves the day she still thinks the wheelchair is SLOW! She needs a monster truck wheelchair! This book is funny, full of energy and will make all the students laugh!
December 29, 2018
Zoom! Many, many zooms in this story!
The need for speed is in Lauretta's soul, and no wheelchair seems to have the power to satisfy that need.
I think this is an amusing story; I don't think I have ever read a book that features a child in a wheelchair before.
I think Robert Munsch captured the fun in this story, the ending was hilarious and the kids had a lot of fun yelling all the zooms!
The need for speed is in Lauretta's soul, and no wheelchair seems to have the power to satisfy that need.
I think this is an amusing story; I don't think I have ever read a book that features a child in a wheelchair before.
I think Robert Munsch captured the fun in this story, the ending was hilarious and the kids had a lot of fun yelling all the zooms!
November 1, 2017
Some books are written just so that a story can be written. This is one of those books, in my opinion.
Munsch wrote this book at the request of one of his readers. It is the story of a little girl who wants to get a new wheelchair. She wants the fastest one that money can buy.
Munsch wrote this book at the request of one of his readers. It is the story of a little girl who wants to get a new wheelchair. She wants the fastest one that money can buy.
September 22, 2018
This is my youngest son’s favorite picture book. He is a teenager now still laughs when we read it to younger children. I love the story about this spunky girl, and how her wheelchair size keeps increasing in her quest for more speed.
June 20, 2019
I thought this was a really fun story. It's a great to see a children's story where the main character is in a wheel chair. The student who I read this book with absolutely loved it, and had a lot of fun saying "ZooOOM!".
November 26, 2017
Id give this book more stars if I could! A great novel and so inclusive. I love it!
November 2, 2018
Good but was hoping for a little more story.
January 17, 2019
Read with one of my 1s and they loved it.
January 16, 2020
My brother Caleb picked this book out for me to read and it was a blast! If you're looking for a fun book to read to the kiddos in your life, I highly recommend this one.
March 16, 2020
Very funny.
August 11, 2020
Adorable and would be great to read aloud.
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August 11, 2020Main character uses a wheelchair.
October 21, 2020
The family is a little dramatic and unsupportive but the girl in the wheelchair is full of ambition and doesn't let anyone stop her. Love it!
April 14, 2021
The kids appreciated the dramatic tendencies of this family and found the whole book amusing.
December 14, 2021
Very funny!
February 5, 2022
I remember reading this, and many other robert munsch stories as a child. This was fun to re read.
February 19, 2022
Love love love!!! This is a great book for so many reasons! Highly recommend!
March 29, 2022
The whole story is about choosing a new wheelchair, so I was happy to see a story where although the plot revolves around her wanting a fast wheelchair, the disability itself is secondary.
July 7, 2022
I loved reading Robert Munsch to my children when they were younger. So great to be able to reread this one.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews