#blogbookaday: All the Way to Havana

Summary:  “Together, a boy and his parents drive to the city of Havana, Cuba, in their old family car. Along the way, they experience the sights and sounds of the streets–neighbors talking, musicians performing, and beautiful, colorful cars putt-putting and bumpety-bumping along. In the end, though, it’s their old car, Cara Cara, that the boy loves best.” (Taken from Goodreads)

Review: A trip to visit a brand-new, baby cousin begins and ends with father and son tinkering with their beloved old car, Cara Cara. When they get the car running, the family, neighbors and friends pile in headed to the big city as they pass beautiful cars in all the colors of the rainbow, but in the end the little boy loves his noisy, old car the best and can’t wait to be old enough to drive it himself. What I loved about the illustrations in this story is that they combined a number of media to create a realistic portrayal of life in Havana with pencil, photo overlay and digital color.

Personal Reaction: This book felt to me like being transplanted into Cuba, I could feel the warm, salty wind coming from the ocean, hear the sound of the old cars rumbling through the streets and smell the delicious food at the baby’s party. The sights and sounds are made real in the poetry of this little boy’s tale and the illustrations immediately place me there. This was a fun read with great onomatopoeia and illustrations of cars we rarely see on the roads today.

Title: All the Way to Havana
Author: Margarita Engle
Illustrator: Mike Curato
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. Books for Young Readers
Publication Date:  August 29 2017

This is a new idea I’m trying on my blog this year that was inspired by @donalynbooks and @heisereads – to provide a brief review of a picture book every day of 2018. You’ll get a brief summary of the story, a review of the content, illustrations and theme, my personal reaction to the book and all the pertinent publication information! Enjoy!