ZOOM! BEEP! VROOM! BUSY CITIES

Vehicles, geography, and onomatopoeia come together in this sturdy board book for toddlers.

Cartoonish illustrations are active, colorful, and vibrant, and they buzz with vehicular activity. Each double-page spread focuses on a different city, presenting a well-known city landmark and the city skyline. The name of the city is also clearly indicated: on a big red double-decker bus in rainy London, on a young man’s T-shirt at a train station in Mexico City, on a child’s hat in Vancouver. And what the toddlers are really going to be interested in is the assortment of vehicles in all those cities. Spare narrative text is enhanced by onomatopoeia, which adds interest and action: the “zoooooooooooooooom” of a bullet train in Hong Kong, the “woo woo woo” of a police car and the “wee uuu wee uuu” of an ambulance in Tokyo, and the quiet “whir whir whir” of a stroller in Vancouver. Diverse adults and children, with skin and hair of many different shades, are present in all the cities, and women are shown driving a fire engine in New York, a bulldozer in Seattle, a bicycle in Paris, and, with a headscarf, flying the Dubai Air plane.

With plenty to see, hear, and identify, young children will enjoy the many busy cities and the plethora of vehicles in them.