Lucky's 24 Hour Garage

Depicts a 1939 night in the life of Angelo, a gas station attendant, as he works the night shift at Lucky's Twenty-Four Hour Garage

Grade 1-3?This period piece takes readers through the night shift at Lucky's 24-Hour Garage in 1939. Angelo is a true service-station professional who takes pride in his work and always has a smile and a friendly word for his customers?even the short-tempered and grumpy ones. The poetic text gives the details of the parade of people who enrich Angelo's world. "Cars rolled through the station on their way to anywhere. Michigan, Texas, Delaware, Ohio?the plates told where they had come from but not where they were going." Careful research is reflected in the stylized art-deco oil paintings: bright colors and sleek lines bring out the details of a variety of cars and trucks and the gas-station decor of the era. At the end of the book, when Angelo's wife and son greet him warmly and take him out to breakfast, readers may realize that the night has passed with neither dirt nor danger. Younger children who like vehicles and gas stations may enjoy this as a simple story; older readers can find both answers and questions about the differences in daily life between then and now.?Carolyn Jenks, First Parish Unitarian Church, Portland, ME
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Stiff and stylized in the polished deco-style paintings, Angelo looks like a mannequin as he goes about pumping gas at Lucky's all-night garage, circa 1939. As his shift progresses, Angelo serves a foxy lady biker who outlines her mouth ``with the brightest red lipstick Angelo has ever seen,'' an opera-singing Italian papa and his five children, and a bus full of cranky musicians. A bride and groom in a leaky convertible sit out a sudden storm (``some honeymoon''), and a fashionable drunk in ``top hat and tails as rumpled/as an unmade bed'' mooches a nickel for the candy machine. The jazzy design and bold, shiny artwork command more attention than the story; the string of unrelated incidents will recall old movies and other sources of nostalgia for adults but may not satisfy young children. (Picture book. 5-7) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

This portrait of New York City circa 1939 tracks the colorful customers (and classic cars) that visit Lucky's 24-Hour Garage in the wee hours. Angelo, the sole night-staffer, looks snappy in his blue jumpsuit, tidy bow tie and brimmed cap?and he's ready with an Indian-head nickel when a guy needs spare change. The story could be the setup for hard-boiled fiction?all the potential players are here, from the femme fatale on the motorbike to the traveling swing band to the man in a rumpled tux. However, these folks are just passing through, to the lively "Dingding!" of the air-hose bell ("Michigan, Texas, Delaware, Ohio?the plates told where they had come from but not where they were going"). Kirk's (Skateboard Monsters) airbrush-smooth, stylized oils mimic American scene painting; a melancholy image of Angelo napping in his chair, his yellow-lit office a beacon amid quiet buildings and empty sidewalks, draws inspiration from Edward Hopper's Nighthawks. The author powerfully evokes the mysterious hours before dawn, and augments his humid summer atmosphere with a well-timed thunderstorm. Although this volume offers a series of scenarios rather than a conventional plot curve, it's a captivating slice of Americana, complete with antique autos. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 5^-8. Kirk's wonderfully illustrated book is evocative of an earlier era--unfortunately, young children (one supposes the intended audience for this book) will not be sensitive to the nuances of American life in 1939. The book starts off promisingly at Lucky's Garage, where Angelo (looking like a crisply uniformed Texaco man) is selling fan belts and fixing tires. This is the kind of detail that interests kids, especially boys in preschool and the primary grades. But the text goes in a different direction, introducing a varied cast of patrons. Some have childlike appeal, such as the Italian father who sings opera; others, like the Fred Astaire^-type out on a binge, won't compute at all (don't worry, he's not driving; he's in a limo). The text itself veers between funny and fatuous: "Like a beast driven by thirst, a sleek motorbike roared up to the pumps." Having said all that, Kirk's art, it must be reiterated, is absolutely terrific. The glowing oils that fill the pages bring you right into the 24-hour world of Lucky's garage. Stylized to the period, but in a way that will capture children's attention rather than lose it as the text does, this is artwork that will delight both listeners and the adults who read to them. Ilene Cooper