Even more entertaining than Go Dog Go! (60 years ago!) Fun colorful images. Simple entertaining text. Cars!! But unlike the somewhat absurd tone of GDG!, Sparky's.. gets down to real problems and solutions. Gasoline bad. Electric good. I'm not sure the real world is that simple but it sure reads well.

This book is a delightfully devastating indictment of our fossil-fuel culture - specifically internal combustion engines! Written by Janelle London, Matthew Metz, and I'm pleased to say, with a fair-shake (for once in a children's book!) given to a talented artist: Ilya Fortuna, this rhyming and full color illustration book for young kids describes how bad internal combustion engines are (transportation contributes about a third of our climate change problem), without getting preachy and without getting bogged down by too much detail.

The magic hamster frankly to me, looks a bit more like a guinea pig, but I've had both as pets in my youthful years, and I'm not going to quibble about that when it's so delightfully drawn. The book briefly lays out the story of how oil came to be formed, and how it's extracted, and what it does when it's burned - returning all that sequestered carbon into the atmosphere quickly and in large volume. I love this book and commend it fully. We can only hope that the children who will read this will still have a planet worth saving by the time they get old enough to do something about the disaster that we adults are still, even now and knowing what we know, hell-bent on creating for them.

What a fun and informative read!

Written by Janella London and Matthew Metz, the co-executive directors of Coltura (a nonprofit organization working towards a gasoline free America), “Sparky’s Electrifying Tale” talks about the science behind gasoline pollution.

It’s Rory’s birthday and he has received a pet hamster.
While searching for a playground for his hamster, Rory comes across a tunnel that might just do the trick.

However, there is more to the ‘tunnel’ (tailpipe).

Rory’s sister Tina takes the readers on a journey and introduces the science behind pollution caused by gasoline.

How is started and how it is going; what impact it has had on the environment. The effect of gasoline on climate change, on sea and air pollution, on humans.

The illustrations are engaging and colorful and tie in well with the rythmic text. The hamster will have readers captivated with its little tricks and expressions.

The text is informative and places emphasis on important points.

Tina also shares an alternative to using gasoline in cars and how we can all do our part towards a cleaner and better tomorrow.

The time to save our planet is now, to time for change is now and Sparky is pushing us all to make the difference.

Sparky's Electrifying Tale is a great story with an important message about how we are polluting the earth with our transport and how going green by using electric vehicles can really help the world. The story is told using a magic hamster which will attract the youngest children's attention and so helping to get the message across to the young minds who will be able to help the cause in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mascot Books for my ARC.

This is a cute little book that advocates the use of greener means of transport.

After Rory receives a hamster for his birthday, he is excited at finding a cozy spot for him: the exhaust pipe of his dad’s car. This shocks his elder sister Tina and she explains to him why it is a terrible place for Sparky. The conversation moves to how gasoline comes into being and how much havoc it wreaks on the planet in various ways. When Rory wonders what could be a possible solution, Sparky comes to the rescue.

The concept of the book is fabulous. Knowledge about renewable and non-renewable energy resources are the need of the day and if the next generation is made aware of this at an early age, maybe there is some hope left for our planet.

The way the book explains difficult processes such as how gasoline is made and how the planet gets heated up is simple and straightforward. I’m not sure if it will still be easy enough for beginner readers but early readers will surely be able to grasp the idea with parental help.

The book is written in rhythmic verse, and while I understand its appeals for children, especially when the book is read aloud to them I feel this story would have been better and possibly more impactful had it been written in regular prose.

The illustrations are bright and colourful. I loved the subtle clues hinting at Rory’s love for nature through the earth design on the rug and the stars and planets on his bedspread.

A very valuable and informative read for children (and their parents), schools and libraries.

Thank you, NetGalley and Mascot Books, for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Sparky’s Electrifying Tale is about a hamster named Sparky whose adventure is the catalyst for the reader to learn about the negatives of gasoline. The illustrations were beautiful and it suited the story well which is ideal for an educational read such as this. Sparky’s adventure is a good middle grade read with an important message filled with pertinent information for the younger generations to learn moving forward.

4 Stars
Sparky is a little hamster that teaches Tina and Rory about the harmful effects of digging and processing crude oil. The book talks about the need to use electric cars that run on electricity made from renewable energy sources.
The story is in a rhyming verse and makes it interesting for kids. It is informative and engaging to read. The illustrations alter better bright and dark, depending on which part of the story is being shown. It’s a good storybook for kids to start teaching them about nonrenewable and renewable energy sources.
Thank you, NetGalley and Mascot Books, for the ARC.

We read this together as a big sister and little sister bedtime treat, it was educational and fun!! I would definitely recommend this for every bookshelf, teaches an important lesson!

I am fairly sure this came up as a middle grade book, but I would age this as 6-10 years., even here in the Costa Rican market. The rhyming text was a bit of a mouthful sometimes but it provides good coverage of the topic in a simplistic easy to understand way and gives helpful opening leads into discussions about the environment. I liked the line showing surprise that someone would make something which is so common (i.e. petrol fueled car) that does so much damage to the environment and people.
I see the target market as families and primary school libraries / classroom libraries. It is a good resource in schools to broach the topic of oil pollution and clean energy alternatives.

I thought this was a cute middle grade read! My kids liked and it the rhyming prose was fun to read. We love books that teach how to be more environmentally friendly.

A great book that teaches children where petrol comes from (or gasoline if you aren't in the UK), and how it is gotten, and what damage it does to the earth around us.
The verses are rhyming which makes it seem fun, but I do find they may be a little long to keep the attention of a child.
Great illustrations too

This is a cute book to teach children about the effects of gasoline on the climate. My one complaint is that it toes the line too close between is this strictly a book to teach or a storybook for children. I think if it's more targeted towards science per the description, then this would be a bit much for younger children because there isn't a lot of story to keep their attention. However, for a middle grade age, I think it is an excellent way to approach this issue.

This is so full of useful information not only for young children but also for me!

What a better way to educate the future generation than with full online graphics that are not only bright but fun.
Loved the hamster with his gas mask on. Made me chuckle.

Talking of how gasoline is collected and how it’s harming our future generations earth.
The emissions and the health concerns and what can be done to ease it also offers a partial solution.

It’s all written in rhyme too which is an added bonus.

A little bit of magic (a cute, sparkling animal magic!) but yes, a story with a strong message about the oil leakage and indiscriminate use of gasoline leading to environmental pollution causing harm to various wildlife.

Love the information.

Love the illustrations.

A good storybook I'd say.

Thank you, author and the publisher for the advance reading copy.

Hmmm... If I were to review the sentiment of this book it might well be to give it five stars – I do certainly want a greener world, for what remains of my few score years and ten and thereon. But I'm here as a book reviewer, and I have to say this is a really awkward entity to discuss. It's not a book at all, really, but an extended advert – a rhyming, colourful, emotion-spreading advert for the creators' anti-gasoline, electric-car-plugging start-up. It is designed to give pester power to the young to demand the next family vehicle be a plug-in. And it really bludgeons its side across – portraying the use of fossil fuels as the root of all evil, and making out the industry of its production let alone its use the cause of so much death and destruction, with no way to see anything positive. But lo and behold, the electricity in the world of these pages – and only in the world of fiction, for many a year to come – comes from renewables, and so the electric car is a wonder that kids, petrol-head dads and hamsters alike can all approve of. Yeah, right. For decades to come the electric car will only push the pollution it causes to elsewhere in the power chain, ie the coal stations, nuclear plants and oil-burning sites that provide the juice in the first place. But nobody makes money out of selling walking to people, and so the electric car is seen by the blinkered as a panacea for the world, when it certainly is not.

Here endeth the sermon. But hey, if "books" can be such proselytising entities, I don't see why critiques of them can't be too. This one, to return to it, is a bit silly (the new owner of said hamster thinking a car's tailpipe a perfect tunnel for it), but does have a fairly decent rhyming couplet format and a matching, cartoonish yet emotive visual aesthetic. As a read it's not too bad or inoffensive, but it has to be flagged up as a lot more inaccurate propaganda than it is entertainment.