Heavy Metal Mater and Other Tall Tales

by Frank Berrios, Walt Disney Company (Illustrator)

Mater is up to his old tricks again, with three new tall tales in one fantastic hardcover storybook for boys ages 3 to 7! Mater tells Lightning McQueen how he started a heavy metal band, became a hot-rod racer in Tokyo, and had a close encounter with a UFO! This follow-up to Mater's Tall Tales is a must-have for all fans of Disney•Pixar's Cars and Cars Toons.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Cars

80 pages, Hardcover

First published July 13, 2010

About the author

I was born and raised in Spanish Harlem, Queens, and the Bronx. As a New York kid, I remember riding graffiti-covered subways and hearing hip-hop blaring from parks and passing cars on the street. I loved my city. It was always buzzing with activity and different things for kids to see and do.

But I also loved to just sit and read. It started with daily comic strips like Peanuts by Charles Schulz. Then I discovered Mad Magazine and superhero comics like Batman, Spider-Man and Black Panther. These stories dealt with heroes and villains, innocence and guilt, freedom and justice. I became interested in justice and the legal system and was encouraged to become a lawyer. I had enjoyed working with kids as a counselor at a summer day camp, so I also thought about being a teacher. But after graduating from college, I knew that being a lawyer or a teacher just wasn’t right for me.

I found a temp job at DC Comics in midtown Manhattan. I answered phones, sorted mail, and did other small jobs. It wasn’t creative work, but I met cool people and got lots of free comics. That led to a full-time job in the Editorial Department. I went from reading comic books for fun, to working with legends in the comic book industry. Before long, I moved from DC Comics to Random House Children’s Books, where I’ve worked on a wide variety of Disney and Nickelodeon books over the last twenty years.

I’ve also written several Little Golden Books, including Black Panther, The Amazing Spider-Man, Falcon, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, I Am Captain Kirk and Too Many Tribbles! as well as My Little Golden Book about Jackie Robinson, Football with Dad and Soccer with Mom.

Reviews

[Brittany McCann · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son loved this book.

It went along with the stories from the compilation of Mater's Tall Tales, which is one of his favorite movies.

This one was not quite as good as book 1 of Mater's Tall Tales, especially when it came to the Heavy Metal Mater, as there did not seem to be as much interaction with the book as you can find in the other tales.

It was still thoroughly enjoyed and had great re-read value.

Definitely recommend it; my toddler has a great time reading it by himself with the pictures and with me as the narrator.

4 Stars

[Darcy Leech · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite book sets to read, my son has heard these stories many times. The great thing is that the stories are divided into manageable sizes, as are the video clips from the DVD of Mater's Tall Tales. This is a great way to extend the fun of the story of Cars, but also a great way to start teaching your child to think critically about what a narrator may say. If you can teach your child the concept that Mater is an unreliable narrator and teach your child to intelligently question what is in books, you are a step ahead in raising a child able to think purposefully and question intelligently, helping avoid media propoganda effect.

[RobesonBoys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another one of Max's favorites.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

the rating was from my son, who votes this one of the best books ever. :)