“Car Show Countdown” by Karen J. Moore

Car Show Countdown

Karen J. Moore
Halo Publishing International (2021)
ISBN: 978-1612449708
Reviewed by Rachel Dehning (Mom) and Lydia (age 7) for Reader Views Kids (12/21)

I admit I am not a car enthusiast, so thankfully, I have people around me who I can turn to for help when I only need to know a trivia question about a vehicle, let alone anything technical. When I started reading “Car Show Countdown” by Karen J. Moore to my kids, I silently prayed that they wouldn’t ask me questions. Again, thankfully, I had someone nearby to answer the question asked of every car – “is it fast?!” This question is not completely necessary to the story but is a worthwhile question about cars from decades ago, about which my kids would have no clue.

The story of “Car Show Countdown” is a group of ten classic cars in a competition to win the title. Each vehicle has a short write-up about it but doesn’t say “is it fast?” to an outsider. Cars include the Corvette, Jeep, T-Bird, Mustang, and Cadillac as some of the contestants. The story is short and sweet in that each explanation is the type of car, and a sentence containing a mini description, then immediately following, is the announcement.

I appreciate the shortness and sweetness of the story, given that kids don’t always have long attention spans (as well as adults). The ending is cute and reinforces good sportsmanship between the winner and non-winners. I felt like I learned something about classic cars, even if it’s just their names. My kids had fun guessing which car would be the winner. “Car Show Countdown” is written for even the youngest to understand. I enjoyed it most because while it isn’t anywhere else in the story, the beginning contains a Bible verse which sets the special tone for the rest of the story.

A Note from Lydia (age 7): “Car Show Countdown” is a short book about ten cars in a competition. I have seen car shows before, so I imagined the story to be like what I have seen. It was fun to learn about different cars and so many fast ones! I liked guessing which one would win – mostly on how they looked and if my dad said they were fast or not. I like that I could read this book by myself, and also that there is a Bible verse at the beginning of the book that I hadn’t heard yet. I would pick this book again from the shelf to read.