Drive: A Look at Roadside Opposites

K-Gr 2—Digitally drawn patterns and textures, combined with muted colors, reinforce the introduced terms as readers participate in this clever journey of opposites. The conceit is that a family station wagon, packed to the hilt, is taking off on vacation. Between the opening spread labeled "start" and the concluding one dubbed "finish," children are exposed to numerous sets of opposites—standards such as "short/long," "big/small," and "in/out," as well as directional examples ("above/below") and perspective switches ("bird's-eye view/worm's-eye view"). "Winding/straight" shows the curvy road on one page, as the family drives along the straightaway on the next and a snake winds its way along the bottom of the page. "Near/far" offers viewers an up-close view of a country road with mailboxes and a rabbit in the foreground, while the station wagon is in the distance driving past a house beyond the fence line. Hatanaka's illustrations are the main attraction here. The family is never shown, and the narrative details must be inferred. However, this is an appealing, if slightly sophisticated choice for interactive reading, fostering visual literacy, and introducing mapping skills.