ALA Booklist (Mon May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2000)

Like all Murphy's MathStart titles, this lively picture book uses a story from a child's daily world to teach a basic math skill. Here the math is pattern recognition, and the story combines sibling rivalry with hands-on play. Molly loves playing with cars, but her brother, Kevin, tells her she's too young. He lines up his 12 cars--four red, four green, four yellow--in special order on the shelf and tells her not to touch them while he's gone. Of course, she does play with them (Vroom! Beep! Crash!), and every time someone comes in, she lines up the vehicles in different sequences, until, finally, she gets her own sets of cars to add to the game. At the back are practical suggestions for adults and kids to find patterns on the pages and make their own patterns with pebbles, buttons, coins, and kitchen utensils. Demarest's clear, simple pastel pictures express the fun of playing with cars as the vrooming action reveals the patterns in everyday things. (Reviewed May 1, 2000)

Horn Book (Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2008)

Juliet Bradshaw's brother, a guerrilla Confederate fighter, is the only family she has left. Incarcerated with other sisters and wives of soldiers, Juliet survives her prison building's collapse, which kills almost everyone. Rinaldi's impassioned characters will sustain readers' interest, though some of the portrayals are sanitized or overly sentimentalized. An author's note explains the real events on which the story is based. Bib.

Kirkus Reviews

<p>PLB 0-06-028017-4 paper 0-06-446728-7 This rambunctious introduction to visual patterns and sequences is a strong addition to the MathStart series. Carefully lining up his dozen blue, red, and yellow toy cars in an unstated but visible order, Kevin orders Molly to keep her hands off, which she does, at least until he leaves the room. Drawn by Molly's ensuing honks and crashes, a mother, father, and a dog enter in succession, each one leaving the cars differently arranged. Can Molly replace them in their initial sequence before Kevin comes back? In fluid, energetic cartoons, Demarest makes it easy for children to help Molly solve her problem by giving each group of cars a bright color and distinctive shape, and Murphy appends suggestions for ways to continue the pattern-making with silverware, toys, and other household items. (Picture book. 3-7)</p>

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-This fine offering introduces the concept of patterns. Kevin has red, yellow, and blue cars that he always lines up in a special way on his shelf. His little sister Molly wants to play, but is told she is too young. Of course, she takes a turn the second Kevin leaves the room. Overhearing the "vrooming, crashing, and beeping," Dad and Mom remind her that she must put the cars back on the shelf exactly the way Kevin left them. This allows her several opportunities to arrange the vehicles in different ways. This clever book not only gives young readers the opportunity to identify color patterns, but also has the added bonus of a repetitive story, complete with sound effects. Whenever the children play with the cars, some variation of the refrain "VROOM VROOM zoomed the red cars. BEEP BEEP honked the yellow cars. CRASH CRASH banged the blue cars" ensues. Primary-color cartoon illustrations depict the family, a playful pooch, and plenty of toy-car action. Two concluding pages provide discussion questions and activities to reinforce the math as well as a few suggestions for further reading. However, many children will enjoy this book simply for the story and the colorful pictures.-Jackie Hechtkopf, Rose Ruth Freudberg Memorial Library, Washington, DC Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.