The classic summertime experience of riding a roller coaster, from waiting to board to staggering off at the end of the line, is captured in perfect detail in the pages of this exuberant picture book. Potential riders, all shown in distinctive detail, wait in an amusement park line for their turn on the roller coaster. Some are experienced riders, some have merely dabbled in the occasional ride, and “at least one of them has never ridden on a roller coaster before. Ever.” That novice rider, a young girl, waits with visible trepidation. After passing the height requirement, she hesitates before boarding but responds to her father’s smile and encouraging hand. By the end of the whirlwind ride, she’s clearly a new devotee of the experience and heads back to the waiting line for another run. The simple text is wonderfully supplemented by the detailed illustrations, which follow a crowd of easily identifiable riders from start to finish. An elderly couple whoops it up, a pair of adolescent lovebirds uses the occasion to snatch a kiss, and two strapping young men are brought to their shaky knees by the ride’s ups and downs. (Ages 5–8)