Roy Makes a Car - Hardcover

Lyons, Mary E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689846401 ISBN 13: 9780689846403

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2005

Synopsis

"If Roy Can't Fix It,
Nobody Can"
Down in Eatonville, Florida, there's a man who can clean spark plugs just by looking at them hard, and who can grease an axle faster than you can say "carburetor." Folks round those parts claim Roy Tyle might just be the best mechanic in the world. But Roy, you know, he never can find an automobile made to suit him. He figures, if a car was built right, there wouldn't be so many collisions out on the road. And so when Roy -- that wonder-making man -- says he's going to make an accident-proof car, there's no telling what he'll cook up behind his double-locked doors....
Based on a tall tale collected by legendary African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston, Mary E. Lyons's souped-up story is perfectly complemented by Terry Widener's bold, dramatic illustrations.

About this title

About the Author:

Mary E. Lyons is the author of many books for children and young adults, including Roy Makes a Car, Feed the Children First, Dear Ellen Bee, Letters from a Slave Girl, and Sorrow's Kitchen. In addition to the Golden Kite Award and a Horn Book Fanfare for Letters from a Slave Girl, Lyons was also the recipient of a 2005 Aesop Award for Roy Makes a Car and a Carter G. Woodson Award for Sorrow's Kitchen. A teacher and former librarian, she lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. You can learn more about her at www.lyonsdenbooks.com.

Terry Widener is an award-winning illustrator whose picture books include Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man by David A. Adler, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book and an ALA Notable Book, and America's Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle, also by David A. Adler, a Junior Library Guild Selection. He is also the illustrator of Peg and the Whale by Kenneth Oppel and If the Shoe Fit by Gary Soto. Mr. Widener lives with his wife and three children in McKinney, Texas.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 1-5 - During the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston collected stories for the Florida Federal Writers' Project, including a two-paragraph tale about a mechanic with amazing skill. Lyons has taken that version and, with the ease of a seasoned storyteller, spun a longer yarn. Roy Tyle's abilities are widely known. "Why, he can grease an axle faster than you can say 'carburetor....'" When he claims that he can make an accident-proof automobile, a gambler challenges him. When the car does everything that Roy promised, the gambler pays up, and Roy sells the machine for a bundle. When he builds a model with winged flaps that he flies "way up in the sky," God spies him and buys it on the spot. "'Tain't no telling what he'll try next." Widener's acrylic paintings are as strong and monumental as the tall tale and reminiscent of Thomas Hart Benton's work. Dramatic angles and points of view enhance the excitement of the story. In the opening illustration, readers look into Roy's eye, which is giving a hard look at the spark plug in the foreground. The drama continues as the artist contrasts brilliant outside colors with the dark, mysterious interior of Roy's garage. Dumbfounded facial expressions reflect the story's straight-faced humor. Children will have anything but straight faces when they read or hear this tale. Southern storytelling at its best. - Carolyn Janssen, Children's Learning Center of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH
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About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0689846401
• ISBN 13: 9780689846403
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Widener Terry