Name: Two Men and a Car
Availability: InStock

It is December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt leads a nation in crisis.

He must make a speech to a joint session of Congress that will build support for America’s entry to World War II, but to do that he needs an armored vehicle in which to make the short trip from the White House to the Capitol Building. According to legend, the car Roosevelt rode in that day, borrowed from the FBI’s impound lot, was an armored Cadillac V-8 built for gangster Al Capone in the late 1920s to shield himself from enemies. Is the legend true, or is it an American tall tale in the tradition of Paul Bunyan or John Henry? Either way, it’s an ideal vehicle to compare and contrast the lives of two American men who grew up within miles of one another: one a great president, the other an infamous villain.

Michael Garland is the illustrator of more than 75 children’s picture books, half of which he has also written. Miss Smith and the Haunted Library is a New York Times bestseller. Other recent books include Daddy Played the Blues (Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People), Car Goes Far, Fish Had a Wish (PW starred review), Grandpa’s Tractor (selected for the Original Art of Children’s Book Show by the Society of Illustrators in NYC), Birds Make Nests (Correll Children’s Picture Book Award; Outstanding Science Trade Book, NSTA and CBC; Bank Street Best Children’s Book), and A Season of Flowers (TD Summer Reading Club Top Recommended Read). Michael makes school visits across the country and can be found at www.garlandpicturebooks.com.