Since there’s some confusion about the books of CARS, let’s start from the start. There is no official novelization of the movie for teens or adults, there are-were some for kids that encapsulate the story of CARS, the 2006 film but for adults, here are the official, blessed, sanctioned or in effect, the short list of books approved by John Lasseter.

CARS (The 2006 movie)

Each Pixar film release guarantees us two things – a dazzling film going experience and an “Art of” book in a long series that is a great showcase to animation, animation film-making and just plain cool art to look at – The Art of CARS. You can find links to the rest of the Pixar ART OF BOOKS HERE plus a postcard series from many of the films.

The CARS Essential Guide is a great looking and colorful guide from 2006. It features mostly the townies and some the Piston Cup racer characters. It’s a good ‘starter’ book with great and huge photographs but back in 2006, they figured we would only be interested in the 20-25 main characters … oops, so nice but not very comprehensive. It says they are updating it and adding 16 pages to add in the Mater Tall Tales characters but they seem to have missed the publication date of September 2009.

Of course, Pixarpedia is the full showcase and encyclopedia of every Pixar film (though UP including all the shorts), it is also the fullest and most complete listings of CARS characters – even more detailed than the Blu Ray finder and of course, in convenient book form … but unlike most other Pixar films with at most a hundred identifiable characters, CARS is at 300-400 and counting so it’s still not 100% complete … if you just add up the Piston Cup racer teams, how many CARS is that? :-0  If you are even a casual fan of Pixar films, this book  will keep everyone from the age of 4 to 104 flipping through the book. It’s a dazzling showcase with literally a thousand+ photos … Our review is HERE.

Meet the CARS is also really written for kids but it is geared for kids of all ages – as it’s a mini encyclopedia of CARS characters. It’s not really very complete (only about 20 of the Piston Cup racers) are featured but it was a nice colorful book form featuring a close look at many obscure characters. There was a TARGET-ONLY version which featured a mini booklet attached that featured additional characters –
many from the World of CARS Storyteller series of diecasts.

CARS (Expanded Universe)

Mater Saves Christmas features the story of how Mater saves Christmas. Diecasts released this year at Target & at TRU including Reindeer mater, Snow Day Sally, etc …

Okay, the first volume of Mater’s Tall Tales is more of a kid’s novelization of the shorts but still a nice and fun recap of the first three CARS TOONS shorts: Mater the Greater, El Materdor & Rescue Squad Mater. Diecasts releases are all under the CAR TOONS: Mater the Greater series.

The second volume called Heavy Metal Mater & other Tall Tales is not due out until July but if you want to pre-order 🙂 … it will cover & feature the novelizations (for kids) the following shorts: Tokyo Mater, Unidentified Flying Mater & of course, Mater as a rock star in Heavy Metal Mater.

THE WORLD OF CARS book is the first official Expanded Universe stories. Stories are of the townies including backstories to their arrival in Radiator Springs. These are released in the Target-only Storyteller series which include Flo’s Showstopper friends, Mater’s Cousin and nemesis, Bubba.

These are the approved texts for younger kids – they re-tell abbreviated-parts of the CARS story from the 2006 film or the Expanded Universe stories approved by John Lasseter.

CARS (The 2006 movie & DVD)

CARS, Graphic Book Novelization of CARS, the film.

CARS, Read Along CD & Book (re-issue – not out until January) but features
Owen Wilson’s & Paul Newman’s voices!

Mater & the Ghostlight, the short featuring all the original voice actors on the DVD
is a Golden Book picture book for kids.

CARS (Expanded Universe)

A CARS CHRISTMAS uses the characters from MATER SAVES CHRISTMAS. As a STEP INTO READING level 1  book, it’s perfect for those just starting, a few words on each page and of course, characters that kids recognize in holiday gear including Snow Day Sally, Hot Shot LM, etc, etc …You can find some of the “non-canonical” STEP IN READING CARS books – featuring new stories of CARS characters HERE.

Disney Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Characters. Looks like a nice junior size version of the Pixarpedia book above but of course, covers ALL Disney characters so I’m presuming it probably doesn’t cover more than the townies of the film CARS but looks like a fun book anyway.

These is also a book on CARS, the diecast and highly, highly recommended … at least that’s what the notes say here. Come on people, how about some more reviews?!  🙂

This is Volume One, hopefully there will be time in January to finish up Volume 2. And if you’re looking for the magazine, MagCloud is having a sale … Check it out HERE.

All of the above book covers and text links are for Amazon.