Electric Dreams Paperback – January 12, 2006

I loved the book. Although I am from a more affluent county further east, I do know firsthand how under-privileged Northampton County is and also how warm and gracious. The book tells how the parents, teachers, students, and community pulled together and created a winning car and team. I cannot imagine the culture shock for a California transplant into this remote area - and the culture shock of the natives. The book is meaningful because it reaffirms the importance of great teachers interacting with the community and kids who are economically poor but rich in spirit can beat elitist preppies in a competition that takes skill and strategy. The book is exciting and inspiring - the only surprise is that no one has made the movie. It really shows how a teacher can be a catalyst for change and affect his students long after high school is finished. Also a very humorous book.

This was a very nice book to read. One is immediately caught up in the drive and heart of the underdog, much like some of the more common sports books of that genre. But this book also had a succinct history of electric vehicles, a brief look at the money and politics that held EVs back, and of course the impact that great teachers can have.

Usually when I find an excellent book and want to write a review of it, so many other people have reviewed the book and said so many positive things about it, I end up not writing a review. This little book is as good as the lone other reviewer states, and deserves to be further reviewed.It makes the building of an electric vehicle a vital, exciting prospect. The various participants are well described and come to life, and this adds to the feeling that any of us can do this. The details of EV building are available, but are NOT overwhelming. The passions and hesitancies of the students, teachers, and community members are described, and this helps the reader to become excited about the effort of this impoverished high school team to build an EV from scratch, and enter the regional EV race put on by the local power company. Descriptions of the competition (which include examining the vehicles for including the right standards, weighing the vehicle, an oral presentation by students describing the "why" behind their choices, a 'race' of the vehicles to see which ones can utilize their electric charges the longest, and another real race for the fastest vehicle) kept me on the edge of my seat. Always with electric vehicles is the threat that the battery charge will run out, so there were many hold your breath moments to see how "our" team would do.Easy to read, this book is an excellent introduction to electric vehicles.

The book, Electric Dreams, is about a school in a small town in North Carolina that decides to enter an electric car competition. The students don't expect to win but they are all willing to try. If they win, they will be rewarded with money and also the joy of breaking the stereotype that they are poor and good at nothing. If they lose, they will reinforce the stereotype that they are nothing but "hay-bale and tractor people". This book, which was based on a true story, was inspirational. It showed that anyone can break the social chains of stereotyping and be who they want to be. But is this a realistic dream or just a false hope? Throughout the book, the Northampton students got really lucky. It might not be fair to assume that everyone who wants to break a stereotype will be this fortunate. While this is based on a true story, it does not accurately portray everyday experiences. Overall this was a feel good book with excellent writing and an interesting theme.

This book, Electric Dreams, is about students and teachers in a small school in Northampton, North Carolina, who try to build an electric car to enter in an EV Challenge. In the process, the team comes across difficulties and finds solutions. In the end, the students are proud of their efforts, win or lose. (This paragraph was created as a group in Mrs. K's English class).I think this is a good book, mostly because it takes place in NC and has a theme of teamwork. We had to read this in English class, it was not by choice. I would suggest this book for adults because I think it's boring and slow paced for teens, or kids. There was not a lot of action until the end of the book. Also, there was too much description about the electric car that they were building.Overall, it's a good book but not for teenagers.

This book, Electric dreams is about students and teachers in a small school in Northampton, Nc who try to build an electric car. In the process, the team comes across difficulties and finds solutions. In the end, the students are proud of their efforts, win or lose. (this paragraph was created as a group in English class.) The book, Electric Dreams, was a drag to read. Because I am a teenage girl, the topic of cars is not necessarily my favorite. I would much prefer to read a book with romance, clothes, drama, makeup, etc. If this book had a tidbit of the listed things I would be a lot more interested to read it. Considering that I read this book you are probably wondering why I did if its so obvious it does not fit the standards that I look for in a book. Well, in my English class my teacher likes to find books that are set in North Carolina, which is where we live. This just so happened to be one that she had chosen. I did not like reading this book whatsoever. Boys would be much more interested in reading this then your typical teenage girl. I would recommend this book for someone who has an interest in cars, defiantly not someone with the same interests as me.

Caroline Kettlewell has captured the nature of the EV Challenge in perpetuity and written a book that shows how every one of us can make a huge difference if we just find the right inspiration.

Great read. Love the two main characters, Eric and Harold.

Excellent book! My kids 11 and 9 wouldnt keep it down.