Summary: Mr. Pott bought an old car from a junkyard and him and his family decided to drive it to the beach to go on a picnic lunch. On their way to lunch the family pressed a button on the dashboard and the car began to fly high in the sky. The car found a quite beach for the family to eat their picnic lunch. While on their picnic lunch the family found a cave with guns inside and decided to blow the cave up, but after they did that the family was caught by the owner of the guns. The children were taken away and the parents were tied up, but the car picked the parents up and together they found the children.

Review: Al Perkins does an amazing job with adapting Ian Fleming's story of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for beginning readers. Personally, I have read Ian Fleming's version and children who are beginning to read longer books would have a hard time following along. Perkins version simplifies the story, while still keeping the readers engaged, such as when Perkins states, "She dove straight toward the waves" (p. 15). Perkins quote about the car nosediving into the water could have been elaborate in detail, but instead he stated the facts and kept moving forward with the story to help keep the reader engaged and focused. The sentence structures are beginning to become complex; therefore, challenging the readers, while still allowing them to enjoy the magical content of the book.

The central theme of Perkins adapted version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! is that everything is possible if a reader just believes. All young readers have ridden in cars enough to know that cars drive on the ground; they do not fly. The books characters Jeremy and Jemima Pott did not seem at all too concerned with finding out that they're car could fly, so young readers could learn that it is okay when things do not go as planned. ( )