Like baseball, NASCAR is a sport whose popularity is frequently said to be waning but which persists nonetheless, achieving respectable viewing figures and garnering interest across many states. Andy Amendola and Wei Ren’s ABCS OF NASCAR RACING is a guide for children to the ins and outs of the sport. The book is published by Red Racer Books, a publishing house that specializes in books about motorsports for children under ten years of age. Previous books in the series have included entries on IndyCar racing and racecars.
While the book is arranged alphabetically, with one interesting fact for each letter of the alphabet, the audience is plainly intended to be children in the later years of elementary school. The style is straightforward. Amendola offers definitions of terms including aerodynamics, drafting, and momentum, and leans into some of the peculiarities of the sport here and there. This includes the use of tires on one side of the car that are slightly larger than on the other side on certain tracks to enhance grip, the fuel blend used, or the bewildering array of flags used to signal to drivers. In keeping with the status of the book as a guide, the focus is on the rudiments of the sport. The absence of references to particular drivers and teams is a wise choice, meaning that the book will not age in the same way that other children’s sports books do when built around this or that sportsperson’s reputation.
Illustrator Wei Ren’s pictures are likewise excellently judged. The illustrations are neither cartoonish nor hyperrealistic, and offer just the right amount of detail; they are colorful without being gaudy. There is a sense of care and attention having been paid to the work generally; every entry is well presented, and the book is free of mechanical errors. It is difficult to see how any introductory text to NASCAR racing could be presented any more efficiently to young readers. ABCS OF NASCAR RACING is engaging, informative, and enthusiastic; young, aspiring motorsports drivers will do well to read it.
Engaging, informative, and vividly illustrated, Andy Amendola's and Wei Ren’s ABCS OF NASCAR RACING is an excellent introduction to the popular motorsport for young readers.
~ Craig Jones for IndieReader