Games to Play in the Car

By Michael Harwood

Illustrated by Susan Perl

Copyright 1967

This book immediately caught my eye when I spotted it at the local Goodwill store.  The drawings are by the same illustrator of a well-loved book from my childhood, Sparrows Don’t Drop Candy Wrappers.  Susan Perl had a gift for depicting raw emotions in people’s faces.  Just look at the cover of Games to Play in the Car.  Can’t you feel the sense of despair and bewilderment in the parents’ faces?

Written before the seat belt laws went into effect, this book starts out with some safety tips.  Don’t let your children stand up in the back seat, lie on the back window ledge, or sit on the driver’s lap.  Seat belts are really the best way to keep a child seated, we are instructed.  Those of us over 30 or so will remember the days of jamming as many kids into the car as possible, lying down across the back seats, and even climbing from the front to the back.  This book was ahead of its time!

Also written before in-car DVD players, IPads, etc., the author gives many ideas for creatively keeping children busy.  The standards are included.  Find all the letters of the alphabet on signage and license plates.  Look for cars from all fifty states.  I spy.  I remember playing all of these, both as a child and later as a parent.  

My favorite from this book is one I’ve never played before.  Who Lives There? exercises the powers of imagination and observation.  Point out a house and then go on to describe what you think it looks like inside, who lives there, and what they like to do.  You may want to start out inferring from the home’s exterior and cars or toys in the yard who really might live there, but I can imagine, at least with my family, this could get pretty silly.  After all, that satellite on the roof may just give a clue that aliens live there. 

So next car ride, put away the smart phones, gaming systems, and tablet computers and start talking to each other!