Cars: Engines That Move You

Science Comics

by Dan Zettwoch, Diandra Leslie-Pelecky (Introduction)

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!

Genres: Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, Science, Comics, Middle Grade, Travel, Childrens

128 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 28, 2019

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I'm certainly a fan of this graphic novel nonfiction series and recommend the series itself to science teachers, this one wasn't my favorite. The topic is one sure to fascinate many readers--cars and engines and some history of transportation along the way. But the organization of the book was distracting to me since it bounced from one point to another as well as moving backward and forward in time with detours into car bodies and faces and other automobile features along the way. I also found it hard to get over the fact that several of the characters had one huge eyeball that practically popped off their faces and stuck way out. I'm not sure what the point of that was. Perhaps it was intended to show that they had an eye on the future, but it distracted and annoyed me. Along with that and several pages such as the "Keep on Truckin'" double-page spread that contained too much detail and too much color, it was hard for my eyes to enjoy this particular ride. I know plenty of middle graders and high schoolers who will love this one, and I appreciated the author's efforts to show balance with a nod to women who were involved with early means of transportation and engines, but it was just too garish for my tastes.

[wildct2003 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good information. Kind of turned off by one eye bugging out of characters faces, but that’s a minor quip. Highly recommended.

[Benjamin]

How? Another Science Comics for a car-obsessed kid.

What? It's a history of cars (and car technology, like wheels and engines and self-driving cars) that's also an explanation of how engines work and also a discussion of car culture (particularly hot rodders and hot rodding comix/grafix).

Yeah, so? The kiddo liked it, and I thought there was a lot of good info here, but there's so much and it's a little jumbled up, and I'd probably edit out some of the pages -- like a discussion of how the faces of cars look like they have different emotions. But still: fine and full of cars! (Also has a bunch of joke references like the Bananamobile from Richard Scarry.)

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Science Comics book was really good and very informative! If you ever wanted to know about cars and you were wondering where to start, this book is the perfect place!

I read this with my 9 year old. I admit that I don't know much about cars, and this book taught me a lot. It isn't condescending, but it is really helpful. It uses words that both kids and adults can understand or it will define words.

The graphics/illustrations are also helpful. It was interesting to see everything drawn out and what all the different cars and engines have looked like through the years.

Definitely check out this book if you are wanting to learn about cars no matter what age you are!

[Kyle Napolitan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book so much. I love cars and the combination of historical facts tied in with so much beautiful descriptive artwork makes the journey from start to finish so enjoyable. There are times in the book that would leave me giddy with joy because I’d see a picture of car in the book and realize I’d seen the same in real life at an automotive museum. Or at other points in the book there be a beautiful illustration of a four stroke engine and in depth information of each stroke. Heavily recommend this book to anyone for a passion or interest in cars or who just enjoys history from where things started to where they ended up.

[Cheryl]

As reviewer Barbara says, this is not the best in the series. Too scattered, too crammed with trivia instead of focusing on just one or two things besides how cars work. I couldn't manage to read it closely, and so won't rate. Some children with a particular interest in the subject will like it... but imo the appeal of the series has (so far in the books I've enjoyed the most) been that even the subjects that don't attract are explored so engagingly that a reader gets sucked in. I didn't connect with this, even though I do have a bit of interest in learning a bit about cars. Sigh.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't a fan of the way people were drawn with the bulging eye and kids who looked like adults (my brain was confused). However, the car diagrams were great, the book was incredibly explanatory (as usual with the Science Comics series) and had a good historical overview, and for someone who doesn't know anything about cars it was interesting when it showed real people and their famous cars and rides.

[blueygurl2016 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. It was a good introduction for people who are interested in cars but I’m not all that interested in cars lol. The people with the bulging eyes were creepy though. Why did they drawing them like that? And the one page that listed 87 different types of cars wore me out. I tried to read and keep up with about 40 of them but the last 40 I gave up. There were waaaaay too many cars, especially for kids.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adult Learner

I checked out this book because we have a car gene in our family and I thought it would be good for Grandad and Liam to read together. At age five I am not sure L would understand the engineering concepts but the pictures in comic form would be fun for him. I enjoyed the quick read but I found the science to stretch my understanding of engines.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't love this one. It feels very disorganized, bouncing from history to technical details and back again without any real narrative. And there's no sense of weight to any of this. There's four pages that are just a bunch of tiny illustrations of different kinds of vehicles, and it felt like a waste of space. Maybe young gearheads might enjoy it, but I'm not and I didn't.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good one in this inconsistent series. This book hits you with a lot of information but it never dumps it on you. It goes back and forth between details and history with occasional bits of science. It has light framing, some of which is revisited. Just a fairly clever fun educational book and with quite good enough art.

[Mary Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really appreciate the panels that show how a 4-stroke engine works, but I wonder if kids who are really interested in cars want to start with the history of 19th century inventions. Great art, but the organization of content was not engaging.

[Celeste · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually really enjoy the science comics. This one was like reading a car manual-a lot of details. The illustrations were weird with all of the characters having one eye that pops clear out of their head. Overall it was a lot of info.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I requested this book because we had pages falling out of ours and I wanted to make sure they were going in the right spot. Then I just kept reading. A little technical for me and I didn't like the bugged-out eye style of drawing, but it has definitely found an audience at my library.

[Deidra Chamberlain · Rating 4 out of 5]

The bibliography and reference notes are nice to have. I’m not a car person, so I learned a lot. I especially loved all the unique moments in car history that he took the time to document. The ‘systems of the car’ pages were great. He did a good job with character development.

[January Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every child needs this series! It's amazing and this one did not disappoint!



Thank you, NetGalley

[Matthew Noe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed for Diamond

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and engaging.

[James Fuhrmeister · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool, impressive, and a good history book, I recommend if you like cars.

[Reece Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like these books

[L.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the history in this one!

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic explanation of how cars work.

[Earl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite in the series. I felt like there was too much filler.