Revver the Speedway Squirrel

July 1, 2020
A squirrel car-racing fan becomes part of a pit crew. Growing up in a tree overlooking a racetrack, a young squirrel has become fascinated with the speeding cars and the sound of their engines. Although aptly named Revver, he has trouble paying attention when his mother tries to convey the critical skills that he, his sister, and two brothers will need to know when they leave their nest. As he questions his talents within the traditional learning environment, his engineering and speed experiments in this opening section of the novel help keep the episodic chapters quick and lively. When the siblings scatter in different directions on their 50th day of life, Revver heads to the racetrack. After Bill, one of the crew mechanics, realizes that the observant squirrel in his garage can understand him, he teaches Revver different parts of the car and how they work in short passages with plenty of details. Finally the squirrel thrives, realizing his true gifts and even joining the pit crew, and he puts his skills to the test when his sister's life and a race-day repair are on the line. Expressive illustrations, near disasters, and gags with Revver's brother Farty (also aptly named) sustain the light adventure. While Revver's mother and sister assume stereotypical gender roles, the pit crew includes multiple women mechanics. Humans seem to be default white. For budding race-car enthusiasts and readers who've ever felt they learn differently. (Fantasy. 8-11)

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July 27, 2020
The author of Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site and its offshoots makes her middle grade debut in this series launch introducing a squirrel mesmerized by the zooming vehicles populating the racetrack below his family nest. Despite Revver’s need for speed, the story gets off to a poky start, given undue repetition of that fact as well as lengthy dialogue that establishes the squirrel siblings’ personalities. Only insightful Sprite—the sole female sibling, saddled alongside their mother with emotional labor in the form of caretaking and peacemaking—encourages her brother to pursue his dream of joining the human-only speedway pit crew, while constantly-in-motion Bounce and incessant eater Farty spend their days living up to their monikers. With a boost from spry cartoons by Willan (the Jasper & Ollie series), which comically capture Revver’s spunk, the novel’s pace picks up after he ventures into the track, where he befriends the mixed-gender pit crew and learns the mechanics of car racing. There he at last feels understood, learns the importance of teamwork and the value of family, and—after his curiosity and impulsiveness recurrently trigger mayhem—uses life lessons he’s absorbed to save the day. A sweet if sometimes overly descriptive tale. Ages 8–11. Author’s agent: Lori Kilkelly, LK Literary.