Zoe can\u2019t wait to throw a party for her friends and their toys. She\u2019s even built a little house out of blocks, with a pool on the roof for the occasion. But Car and Miles\u2014a figure who, like Zoe, uses a manual wheelchair\u2014can\u2019t climb the steps to the roof. Chagrined, Zoe sets out to build a ramp, but it\u2019s trickier than she thought. Some attempts are too steep, others too short. What if Zoe has to cancel the party? Author and illustrator both use power wheelchairs; together, Tangen\u2019s clear explanations of Zoe\u2019s trials and errors and Wen\u2019s rounded, cheery illustrations\u2014complete with Zoe\u2019s graph-paper ramp drawings\u2014introduce young readers to concepts such as slope and inclined planes while gently highlighting accessibility. Toys\u2019 speech-balloon quips add humor (\u201cIt\u2019s all fun and games until somebody loses a headlight,\u201d remarks a princess figurine as Car tumbles from a steep ramp). Backmatter includes information on ramps and other simple machines, a glossary of terms such as force\u00a0and work, and a list of relevant activities. Inviting readers to consider whether their playgrounds are accessible, the author asks, \u201cAre there simple machines that could make it easier for everyone to play together?\u201d The presentation of accessibility and inclusion as concrete parts of STEAM is especially refreshing. Zoe has pale skin; her friends are racially diverse.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zoe can\u2019t wait to throw a party for her friends and their toys. She\u2019s even built a little house out of blocks, with a pool on the roof for the occasion. But Car and Miles\u2014a figure who, like Zoe, uses a manual wheelchair\u2014can\u2019t climb the steps to the roof. Chagrined, Zoe sets out to build […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7526"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}