A story of a journey, and a journey of stories: Conta-quilómetros' mix-and-match design and bold illustrations provide enough storytelling fun for the longest of car rides! The book is published by Planeta Tangerina, an independent Portugese publishing house that has recieved multiple international rewards, and published several great silent books. The illustrator, Madalena Matso, is one of the founders of Planeta Tangerina.

 

Conta-quilómetros is a book about a car ride, where the mix-and-match format places the reader behind the wheel: free to choose between lots of different paths and to find solutions to challenges that appear as you go. Matosa has a very bold illustration style using strong colors and clear shapes. This works really well, because it makes even the tiniest of details - and there are a lot of tiny details - easy to interpret. Matosa's sense of humor and love for storytelling is apparent on all of the pages, making this book a very enjoyable read for all ages.

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There are some words in Conta-quilómetros, but they feel more like part of the illustrations than bearers of meaning. The sayings are just part of a normal traffic situation, like "Where are we?" and "Come on, let' s go!" There are also onomatepoeia of motor sounds like "Vrooom". 

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Using the mix-and-match pages, you can design your own ride: travel during daylight or night time, have a happy ending or a sad one, go to the forest or explore the big city. You can stop and take in the sights, choose a day at the beach or go skiing in the mountains. The possibilities seem endless.

 

Conta-quilómetros would be the perfect book to bring on a long car trip - for matching what you read in the book with what is outside the car windows, or for making up countless stories using Matso's playful illustration as inspiration.