Ed Roxburgh grew up in San Diego, California, where his great granny and great uncle, both landscape painters, inspired and encouraged his early artistic efforts. At school his classmates commissioned drawings of cars and monsters for 25 cents apiece. He won awards for his art as a teenager, and expanded his education at Santa Barbara Fine Arts (Brooks Institute) and University of California San Diego Extension. Roxburgh paints scenery for plays, operas, movies, TV series, and even haunted houses. He also paints murals in hotels, restaurants, and private residences. Max and the Lowrider Car marks the start of his career as E. Felix Lyon, illustrator of books. Felix lives in Lemon Grove, California, home of some amazing lowrider cars.
If you hadn't already guessed after reading Book 1 (Max and the Lowrider Car) in the Hounds' Glen Series. Jim and Lyon are great modified car fans, but that's what you would expect from a couple of California guys. In this go-around, we have the same sophisticated vocabulary, a well-crafted story line, great characters, and perhaps most important humor. In my search for appropriate books for very young gifted readers (K-2 but reading at a much higher grade level) the element of humor is very important. A sophisticated sense of humor is often a characteristic of gifted individuals and it is expressed at an early age. But of course, readers of all ages will get a kick out of this series. In Hot Rod, we are dealing with the same characters, especially Max and his Pack of Theena, NicNac and Edgar, but it is Harold, Edgar's older brother who is the more central character as he builds a car for racing from a Too Tall Car (read the first book). Another return character, who plays a major role in this adventure and is named in this episode, is Tuxedo, the 800-pun gorilla. That's right 800-pun gorilla. In Book One, he was the comedian at the Room, the local nightclub. His jokes were all puns and whenever he got to 800, he would begin all over again. This is one example of the fun situations that Jim creates throughout both books. The pivot of the plot in this book revolves around Harold taking his car to the annual races at All Critters City. By the way, how the car got the name of Hot Rod is fun. You have to read the book to find out for yourself. - no spoiler here!. Since the big bridge is out, they decide to take the cars to AC City on the Iffy Queen, a river steam boat, and this leads us to a fun pirate adventure on the river with a host of new and fun characters. In this episode, there is more of a story line with several problems and a mystery to be solved. The Pack has more than its share of adventure and Harold becomes a hero. Another fun read from a creative duo. Teachers, both of these books are great for reading aloud to all elementary grades. I am looking forward to the next episode, which the careful reader will discover a clue on what it may be all about. Dr. Bob Seney Professor Emeritus/Gifted Studies Speaker, National Association for Gifted Children
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