My Car: A Wonderful Story About Vehicles, Colors, Shapes, and Community for Preschoolers

by Byron Barton

With bright, clear art and prose as clean as Sam the narrator's shiny engine, this preschooler-friendly book explores transportation, the parts of a car, signs and signals, night and day, community, and occupations. Bright, graphic artwork invites readers to count, name colors and shapes, and follow Sam and his car as they drive through a bustling world from Sam's home in the country to his job in the city. Named to numerous “best of the year” lists, My Car features vehicles, signs and signals, and a surprise ending. "For young children intrigued by cars, this book is simply wonderful."— ALA Booklist Byron Barton is the celebrated creator of numerous picture books for very young children, including Trucks , My Bus , and Building a House.

Genres: Picture Books, Transport, Childrens, Storytime, Cars, Fiction, Juvenile

40 pages, Hardcover

First published August 7, 2001

About the author

Byron Barton is the author and illustrator of many picture books for young children. He has been honored by ALA, SLJ, and Reading Rainbow. He worked as an animator for CBS before he started creating children's books. He is currently making his illustrations completely on the computer.

Reviews

[Chrispychipz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Major plot twist at the end I did not see that coming!!!!!!!!!!!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Car by Byron Barton is a simple story about a man, Sam, and his car, including care and upkeep. This includes getting gas, changing the oil, using the wipers and headlights at night, and obeying traffic laws. And he drives a bus as his job!

The text is simple, with a few exceptions, like pedestrians, steering, and gasoline. It shows some basic parts of the car: body, wheels, frame, engine and steering wheel. A number of signs are shown. The font is large and could be used by some beginning or transistional readers or to learn sight words. A lot of boys will really like this.

The illustrations use bright colors. It can be used one on one, but is big enough to use in a baby or toddler time, though a few pages might need to be skipped to keep it short enough for practical use. It could be used along with the book The Wheels on the Bus and song.

For ages 1 to 6, cars, transportation, babies-toddlers, and fans of Byron Barton.

[Abi Gao · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think that this is in fact the book i learned to read on

[Jessica Walsh-Frazier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ona: "I love my mom when she reads about Spanish"

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical Barton: simple text, colorful pictures, no real story line. This is suitable as a group read aloud for babies or young toddlers, it's too simple for preschoolers.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot even count how many times my husband and I read this book out loud while we had it checked out from the library. It must be near 100. My son loved--LOVED--this book. Why? I don't really know. I think the illustrations are kinda creepy, and the text is nothing exciting, but he asked for this one over...and over...and over. So, Mr. Barton, you are obviously doing something right.

I used the regular sized picture book for three storytimes on 5/5/17, to tepid response. Maybe my kid just has weird taste.

[Ellias · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book that inspired me to learn a character's name. I light up every time someone reads me the first page: I am Sam. Then I continue to point to Sam and say his name throughout the rest of the book. I also like to say car, bus, and especially beep-beep at the end.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A total hit during Book Babies story time.

[Julia Dundon]

My Car by Byron Barton, can be found under the ALA Notable Children’s Book Award List. For a book to make it onto the list, it must be worthy of note or notice, important, distinguished, and outstanding. This book was selected because it teaches young children about responsibility and being a functioning, respectable, member of a community. Sam, the main character, talks about his car. He includes facts such as parts that make up his car, how he takes care of his car, and most importantly how he follows all of the street signs while he is driving. Sam states that he follows the law and stops for pedestrians as they cross the street. The composition of the illustrations allow the reader to see the world through Sam’s eyes. Sam and his car take up most of the pages, highlighting their importance. Sam’s car is the main focus of the story because he loves it so much and if Sam weren’t responsible, his car wouldn’t be pictured in such great condition. Teachers can utilize this in the classroom setting by introducing responsibility to his or her students. First, it would be best to discuss the term and the definition. Next, the teacher can assign each student a different responsibility for the week such as picking up garbage off of the floor, cleaning the erasers, or passing out instructional materials. This allows students to feel important and independent while learning the importance of being responsible. Another way this book can be utilized in the classroom is teaching young children the meanings of different street signs. This is something they will need to know in the future and can help them learn how to function respectively in a community. Meanings of different street signs can be introduced and discussed, but it would be even more beneficial to discuss what could happen if laws are disobeyed. Overall, this simplistic children’s story conveys many important aspects of functioning in a community and being responsible for your own actions, making this book useful in the classroom.

[Annissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Copyright: 2001
Number of Pages: unnumbered
Book Format: hardcover
Reading Level: grades K-2, GR level: D
Genre: Fiction
Lit Requirement: baby book

Summary:
This book begins with the main character, named Sam. Sam shows the readers his car, along with various parts of the car and other things to do with a car, like an oil change. Sam follows the signs and drives safely. The end of the book Sam shows the readers what he does after he drives his car to work. Read to find out!

Review:
This book is great for babies. It has lots of colorful and simple pictures which is good at capturing their attention. Each page has little words which is perfect for babies as well. I recommend this book for any child who is around cars a lot or who likes cars, as it will teach them even more than they already know about cars.

[Shaunterria · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent addition to the bilingual genre, My Car/Mi carro is an impressively simple English/Spanish picture book about cars. The story explores what cars need, illustrates the different parts of an automobile, and describes how responsible car owners take care of their vehicles. The graphics are bright, colorful, multicultural, and eye-catching, and this book is sure to be read repeatedly by young car fanatics. This is a strongly recommended addition to children’s library collections.

[Katie Bruff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A boy named Sam had a car in which he loved and takes great care of it. It has pictures of him washing it and keeping it clean inside and out. Also, it shows all of the features the car has; the body of the car, the engine, the steering wheel, the frame, and the wheels. When Sam works, he doesn't take his own car, he drives his bus. He was a school bus driver and the book showed all of the students getting dropped off at school.

[Andrés · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book is really delightful. It's a deep dive into all the components of a car and the experience of driving. The bus driver reveal at the end is an unexpected and satisfying way to end the book. My only reservation is that cars are not as cool or environmentally friendly as bikes, and one day, I hope cars will not need gasoline and that part of the book becomes a cultural artifact.

[Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bright pictures and one sentence per page make this seem like a great beginning reader book. However, some of the vocabulary (ex: pedestrians, windshield) is really challenging for a kindergartner or first grader.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Benji loves cars these days, so of course when this was spotted at the local library we had to read it to him! I loved the simple pages with the big, boldly colored illustrations, and Benji loved the car on every page. And no one saw that twist ending coming! ;-)

[Tabitha Vanover · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Car is a good book. I like how it talks about the different parts of a car and gave small descriptions about what those parts do. An showing children the different street signs they see on a daily travel around their city. Doing that so children can make that connection.

[David]

My son was consistently engaged with this book even though I read it with a monotone voice that to me fit the words and illustrations. The bright flat colors were a hit and he learned the word "bus" from our multiple readings. I really loved the hustle and bustle of the illustration at the end.

[Miriam Monette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Byron Barton's best and a must have for any child who is interested in things that go! It is fun to read aloud, identifies parts of a car, and has a delightful twist at the end. This is one I go back to again and again to read with my littles!

[Diana Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for a baby or toddler (2s & 3s) storytime. Simple text with BOLD pictures. This is the kind of book I can see a kid memorizing and "reading" it for themselves after a few parent/adult readings. In storytime at the library I would follow this book with singing "The Wheels on the Bus"

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barton Bees #1
A nice introduction to the car for little ones, and not just the car itself, but driving and the principles of driving, taking care, looking at signs, obeying the laws etc, a good wholistic approach to a book on the car.

[Alison · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too simple with repetitive sentence structure. Children can take in more complex writing. And, I don't like that the character is said to love his car. Please.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, clear sentences and text make this a great book to share with toddlers. Bright colorful illustrations grab the young listeners attention.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute storytime read about cars.

[Bethel Swift · Rating 4 out of 5]

It isn't often that a board book has a plot twist and this one does - I love that. This is a very clever concept and a book that children will want to read again and again.

[Mely · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an adorable little book. Bright & simple illustrations. Clear text. My little one loves this and we read it over and over again.

[Kary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barton's books are always popular with the very young readers. Very colorful and eye-catching. Probably not one that I would read aloud.

[createitlibrarian (Amanda) · Rating 3 out of 5]

To use for transportation/vehicles theme storytime

[kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

super solid toddler book

[Valleri · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a twist that Sam likes to drive and his job happens to be as a bus driver! I did NOT see that coming! I would recommend this board book to anyone who loves surprises ;)

[Aneesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twist ending! Also after telling me all day not to sing her books to her, my daughter requested this as her lullaby.