© 2005  Terry Widener
Client: Atheneum/Simon & Schuster
Medium: Acrylic on Paper
Size: Various sizes
Use: Children's book
Title: "Roy Makes a Car"

AWARDS

Aesop Award Prize 2005
New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing 2005.
Parents' Choice Awards : Books : Picture Books

REVIEWS

From School Library Journal
Grade 1-5 - During the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston collected stories for the Florida Federal Writers' Project, including a two-paragraph tale about a mechanic with amazing skill.
Lyons has taken that version and, with the ease of a seasoned storyteller, spun a longer yarn. Roy Tyle's abilities are widely known. "Why, he can grease an axle faster than you
can say 'carburetor....'" When he claims that he can make an accident-proof automobile, a gambler challenges him. When the car does everything that Roy promised, the gambler
pays up, and Roy sells the machine for a bundle. When he builds a model with winged flaps that he flies "way up in the sky," God spies him and buys it on the spot. "'Tain't no telling
what he'll try next." Widener's acrylic paintings are as strong and monumental as the tall tale and reminiscent of Thomas Hart Benton's work. Dramatic angles and points of view enhance
the excitement of the story. In the opening illustration, readers look into Roy's eye, which is giving a hard look at the spark plug in the foreground. The drama continues as the artist contrasts
brilliant outside colors with the dark, mysterious interior of Roy's garage. Dumbfounded facial expressions reflect the story's straight-faced humor. Children will have anything but straight faces
when they read or hear this tale. Southern storytelling at its best. -
Carolyn Janssen, Children's Learning Center of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
PreS-Gr. 2. Lyons expands a two-paragraph tall tale, collected by Zora Neale Hurston for the Federal Writers' Project in the 1930s, into a wildly funny story about a gifted car mechanic.
Roy is so exceptional that he can "grease an axle faster than you can say 'carburetor,' and he can clean spark plugs just by looking at them hard." No one believes him, however, when
he says that he can build an accident-proof car, "a stabilated, lubricated, banjo-axled, wing-fendered, low-compression, noncollision car." Perfect for reading aloud, the funny rhythmic
words are well matched to Widener's exaggerated acrylic illustrations, which show sly Roy and his huge, flying 1930s-style car. Young car enthusiasts will enjoy the silly mechanical details,
and Lyon's lively afterword
about "storycatcher" Hurston is a delight. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Publishers Weekly
..." Widener's acrylics take up the playful exaggeration of the text, depicting scenes of the jet-black, 1930s-styled wonder auto rising up and over (or sliding, low-slung, underneath) the
challengers' vehicles. The wide-eyed faces and exaggerated features of the townsfolk add a comic edge and emphasize the hyperbolic tone. After selling a flying car to God, Roy
continues puttering in his workshop, leaving readers to wonder what he's up to next. Ages 4-8. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

From Kirkus Reviews
...Widener fills his Depression-era scenes with sleek roadsters and dark-skinned, strongly molded faces in rolling, Thomas Hart Benton-style settings, then closes with a small cameo
of Hurston over a tantalizing account of her career as a folklorist. Roy's working on a new project now; Lyons invites readers to take a peek, warning, "But don't stand too close! That Roy
Tyle is a wonder-making man. 'Tain't no telling what he'll try next." (source note) (Picture book/folktale. 7-9)

From Horn Book Review
-- the streamlined, skewed illustrations suit both the outrageous tale and the snappy modernism of the 1930s.
Copyright 2005 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.

Karen Leggett - Children's Literature
...Terry Widener's large, bold illustrations have an art-deco style that recalls the period of Hurston's actual writing. The story is perfect to launch a discussion of tall tales and using
imagination to build a story that leaves the reader wanting to know more. "T'aint no telling what (Roy'll) try next." 2005, Simon & Schuster, Ages 4 to 8.