Zoom!

It takes a dinosaur-themed roller coaster to show a kid that he has the right stuff. After passing muster with the "You must be this tall" sign, the young hero climbs aboard-albeit more reluctantly than his eager dad (who, in typical goofy dad fashion, is wearing socks with his sandals). In Luthardt's (Larabee) paintings, however, the duo undergoes a mien switch after the coaster's first big drop. For the text, "Sailing at the speed of sound./ Zooming, racing toward the ground," Dad gets an "anywhere but here" look on his face, while his son responds with the wide grins and arms-over-head posture of an aficionado. Newcomer Adams's story unspools in singsongy couplets with plenty of heavy-duty action words ("Lurching, tilting up again./ Jerking, rumbling round the bend"). Luthardt doesn't offer the kind of visceral thrills to be found in Marla Frazee's recent Roller Coaster, but his amusement-park palette and boldly geometric acrylics pop with energy, and he's particularly good at capturing the swooping black track. The ending is predictable, but it's a triumph that youngsters won't mind reliving several times over. Ages 2-6. (Mar.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.


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